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Grizzlies guard: 'No one cares' about new NBA tournament
Memphis Grizzlies guard Marcus Smart Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports

Grizzlies guard: 'No one cares' about new NBA tournament

The NBA has a new in-season tournament. Can the league make the players care?

At media day, new Memphis Grizzlies guard Marcus Smart said that “no one cares about” the NBA’s new tournament, which debuts this year. Teams are separated into randomly selected groups of five, who play each other in four games, which are also regular-season games … and it's almost too boring to complete this sentence.

It's the brainchild of NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who has wanted a European soccer-style tournament to increase ratings for the regular season and bring in sponsorship, but the players don't seem particularly invested in the new tournament.

"To be honest with you, nobody cares about that," Smart told reporters. "It’s the big thing that they care about. You know, I’ve had mixed feelings on it from players. It’s just great to be able to play more basketball."

It doesn't sound like players value the new trophy, compared to the Larry O'Brien Trophy that goes to the NBA champions. What they might value is the prize money, which could be as much as $500K to each member of the team that wins it all at the finals, taking place in Las Vegas Dec. 9.

Players may have "mixed feelings" about the trophy, but Silver is betting that no one has mixed feelings about getting half a million dollars. As for the fans, so far no one cares about that.

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