NBA In-Season Tournament viewership surpasses Play-in Tournament by nearly 2 million, rivals playoff viewership: Reports

The NBA In-Season Tournament was widely praised after the LA Lakers and LeBron James won the first NBA Cup. In a dramatic final in Las Vegas, they defeated the Indiana Pacers.

The championship game of the NBA In-Season Tournament garnered 4.6 million views, an astonishing number. The game aired on ABC and ESPN on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT.

According to ESPN, the game's viewership was comparable to that of a first-round NBA playoff game. ABC broadcast five first-round playoff games last season. These are all non-Games 7's. The viewership number ranged from 2.48 million to 7.52 million.

The final of the NBA In-Season Tournament fits on the high side of that range. This shows how people and NBA fans bought into the stakes of the new tournament. The fame of the Lakers and James likely helped, as LA has one of the biggest fanbases in the world of pro sports.

What can the league do to improve the NBA In-Season Tournament?

The NBA In-Season Tournament was marked as a huge success in its inaugural run. Many praised the players for buying in and treating it as a playoff game.

Many of the players even gave voice to enjoying the NBA In-Season Tournament. Multiple players said they felt a different feel to the games. They enjoyed the different courts, jerseys, and branding that set the games apart. The players also loved chasing the prize money. Each player on the winning team earned an extra $500,000.

So what should be changed for next season?

Some have already discussed changing the tournament rules and regulations. Some questioned how teams qualified for the knockout stage. The first tiebreaker was a head-to-head matchup. The second, however, was point differential.

This came into effect in many cases, as teams ended up tied after the four group games. Some did not like how the point differential allowed some teams to qualify and left others out. Other players did not like the style of games when teams who were already holding a comfortable lead ran up the score, trying to increase their scoring differential.

The league could also add more stakes to winning the NBA Cup. There have been suggestions that the winner would get an improved draft pick or an advantage in playoff seeding. Others in the media have suggested adjusting the groups. Perhaps moving to five groups of six teams to allow more wild card entries into the knockout round.