The NBA Play-In Tournament came to fruition in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. After the 2019-20 campaign was halted in March and resumed in August, the Portland Trail Blazers and Memphis Grizzlies squared off with the eighth seed on the line. The Blazers ultimately won the contest and advanced to play the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round.
The 2021 Play-In Tournament was the first to feature four teams in each conference. Teams finishing between seven and 10 qualified for the mini-tournament. The seventh and eighth seeds squared off while the ninth and tenth seeds went to battle. Whichever team won the first contest advanced as the seventh seed; the latter game determined who played the loser of the first game to contend for the eighth seed.
The Play-In Tournament has featured the usual suspects
The Chicago Bulls avoided the first three Play-In Tournaments, only to appear in the previous two. The Bulls squared off against the ninth-seeded Toronto Raptors in the 2023 iteration. Chicago defeated the Raptors, then took on the Miami Heat for the eighth seed. However, the Bulls lost to the eventual Eastern Conference champions and missed the playoffs altogether.
The 2024 result wasn't much too different. This time, the ninth-seeded Bulls hosted a Play-In Tournament game. The Bulls defeated the Atlanta Hawks behind Coby White's career-high 42 points. The Bulls faced off against the Heat for the eighth seed for the second consecutive season. Once again, Miami knocked off Chicago, bumping the Bulls out of the playoffs entirely.
Fast forward to 2025, and three of the four teams from the 2023 and 2024 Play-In Tournaments will likely reprise their roles. The Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Atlanta Hawks, and Chicago Bulls are the teams that make up seeds seven through 10. Furthermore, there isn't likely much variation to be had among the four teams as the season winds down. Miami is five games back from the sixth seed, while Chicago is 2.5 games ahead of the tanking Brooklyn Nets.
The bottom third of the Eastern Conference is cause to change the Play-In Tournament's rules
Miami, Orlando, and Atlanta's competition for the seventh and eighth seeds is all good and fun. The three teams' records are within two games of one another. However, Chicago is an outsider. At 24-38, the Bulls are four games behind the Hawks and six behind the Heat. Comparatively, the Western Conference's tenth seed, the Dallas Mavericks, are 1.5 games behind the seventh-placed Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Bulls have no business making the playoffs or even the play-in, especially after essentially punting on the season by trading Zach LaVine prior to February's trade deadline. Moreover, neither do the 11th placed Nets, 12th placed Philadelphia 76ers, or 13th placed Toronto Raptors. All three previously mentioned squads are at least 19 games below .500, so there's no point in competing for a playoff spot when the goal is to better your draft position.
With the bottom third of the Eastern Conference in a disastrous state, pundits around the league have taken notice. On an episode of the Kevin O'Connor Show, the analyst himself predicted that the NBA will discuss changing the parameters of the Play-In Tournament. The change being considered is not allowing teams under .500 to earn a spot in the play-in—a feat the Bulls have or likely will accomplish in three straight years.
Reverting to the inaugural play-in's parameters seems to be the most logical remedy. The 2020 play-in, as mentioned, featured only two Western Conference teams. The Eastern Conference was left out entirely because of the difference between the eighth and ninth-placed teams' records. The eighth-seeded Magic were 7.5 games better than the ninth-seeded Washington Wizards. Awarding a team with a record that much better than their succeeding counterpart is rational.
Allowing the Bulls to compete for a spot in the play-in with a record 14 games below .500 is nonsensical to the fans, the rest of the NBA, and even the Bulls. Although the Vice President of Basketball Operations, Artūras Karnišovas, spoke of his desire to compete for a spot in the play-in, it doesn't necessarily mean it's in the Bulls' best interest. Following the recouping of their 2025 first-round pick in exchange for LaVine, it's only right for Chicago to prioritize the future—something the NBA should account for going forward.
Limiting the Play-In Tournament to nine teams or abolishing it isn't the answer. It's entertaining for the fans and adds to the competitiveness of the bottom third of both conferences. The most sensible approach instead is ushering O'Connor's ideology of excluding teams below .500 or implementing a "games back" cutoff.