Sarah Todd of The Deseret News believes the NBA’s new in-season tournament will be a boon for what is typically a ho-hum portion of the regular season. According to Todd, players will be motivated by the glory of winning, being pictured with the NBA Cup, and the chance to earn $500K.
As Todd notes, while $500K may not be a huge sum for the league’s highest-paid players, it’s only $60K shy of what players on two-way deals will make over a full season, and it would be a significant reward for those on rookie deals and minimum-salary contracts. It might take a year or two for fans to buy-in, but the in-season tournament should make the regular season more fun, Todd opines.
Here a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- EuroLeague team Panathinaikos has parted ways with Georgios Kalaitzakis, as Eurohoops.net relays. The final pick of the 2021 draft, Kalaitzakis played 13 NBA games in 2021/22 — his rookie season — with the Bucks and Thunder, though he spent much of that campaign in the G League. He returned to Panathinaikos last summer, marking his second stint with the Greek club.
- Former NBA center Miroslav Raduljica has left Serbia’s Crvena Zvezda by mutual agreement, per Eurohoops. The 35-year-old will be signing with Greek side Marousi B.C., sources confirm to Eurohoops. Raduljica, who played 53 games with the Bucks and Wolves from 2013-15, has had a lengthy international career and was formerly the captain of Serbia’s national team, winning silver medals at three different tournaments (2009 EuroBasket, 2014 World Cup, and 2016 Olympics).
- In case you missed it, we passed along several World Cup notes this morning.
More must-reads: