Mark Cuban has an opinion about how to fix the imbalance between the NBA’s Eastern and Western conferences.
Rather than changing the playoff format to rank teams one through 16, he floated a trial balloon Wednesday about doing it differently.
“I think we’d be better off re-aligning like the NHL did,” the Dallas Mavericks’ owner said. “Take teams that are currently in the central in the East, put them in the West. I don’t think it changes the travel, it doesn’t change the considerations for the playoffs. And I think it shakes things up in terms of balance of power today but I think it makes things more interesting.”
So how would Cuban make it work?
“I think Memphis stays West and the Texas teams, all three of us go East, and New Orleans,” he said. “And Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee and Indiana go West. It kind of shakes things up not just in interest but also in terms of how people rebuild.
Conveniently, that would get the Mavericks’ two appearances every season by LeBron James rather than one. But it also would get them away from Golden State, Portland, Oklahoma City and Memphis, all of whom appear to be solid contenders for years to come.
“It makes both conferences very competitive for the short term,” Cuban said. “And I think based off the history of the teams, for the long term, as well. Instead of the Southwest, it becomes the South.”
The NBA has realigned in the past, but it usually has come about because of expansion or when a team relocates to a new city.
The last time a major change was made was when the league went from two divisions in each conference to three before the 2004-05 season.
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