Report: NBA discussing midseason tournament, trimmed schedule for 2021-22

The NBA will celebrate its 75th season in a few years and appears to be looking at changes that will ensure it's a memorable anniversary.

During a mid-June conference call with the league office, a committee of top team executives from both basketball and business operations brainstormed alternatives to the traditional NBA schedule for the 2021-22 season, sources told ESPN's Kevin Arnovitz.

The discussions reportedly covered reducing the current 82-game regular-season schedule in order to make room for a midseason cup and postseason play-in tournament. Sources considered the talks to be very exploratory.

Commissioner Adam Silver previously said he's considering a soccer-inspired midseason tournament like the FA or League Cup.

If the NBA decides to implement the aforementioned proposals, it plans to use the 2021-22 season as a trial run to determine if the changes are worth adopting long term, sources said. Though the advisory committee has no formal governing authority, it can issue recommendations to the NBA's Board of Governors.

The committee apparently discussed reducing the number of regular-season games to as few as 58 to ensure each team could host all 29 potential opponents at least once. However, team officials didn't have much of an appetite for a significant decrease in games, sources on the call told Arnovitz.