NBA Playoff Preview: The Play-in Tournament

Now, the idea of a play-in isn’t roses and sunshine for everyone. According to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, Mavs superstar Luka Doncic had this to say about it: “I don’t understand the idea of the play-in tournament. You play 72 games to get into the playoffs, then maybe you lose two in a row and you’re out of the playoffs. I don’t see the point of that.”

The thing about that’s fishy about this is that the Mavericks are the seventh seed as of writing this. Would Luka have the same comments if the Mavs were in ninth or tenth, or even third or fourth? Probably not. However, Luka does make a valid point from a players perspective.

Also, recently, Damian Lillard went on ESPN’s Jalen and Jacoby and called last year’s and this year’s play-in games as “test-runs” and explained how he understands where Luka is coming from.