The Zion Williamson Playoff Conspiracy

Zion Williamson has become the young darling of the NBA. The guy has played less than 20 NBA games and you already have some calling for him to be crowned Rookie of the Year over Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant. But giving Zion the ROY is not the only conspiracy brewing within the deep state of the NBA. With the resuming of the season upon us and the playoffs soon to follow, there seems to be growing evidence of an attempt to get Zion and the Pelicans into the playoffs. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst has had people in the league tell him exactly that.

Brian Windhorst says the NBA wants to make sure Zion Williamson is involved in the playoff plan, per @GetUpESPN pic.twitter.com/QuSWmRj2DI

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) May 29, 2020

First off, Get Up is probably the worst sports talk shows out there so I hated even sharing that tweet. Second, I am fully bought into the conspiracy that the NBA will do whatever it takes to try and get Zion into the playoffs. Windhorst is wrong in stating that its an issue about protecting one of the smallest markets in the league. The masses could care less about the rest of the Pelicans, they just want more Zion. A more recent proposal would have teams within 6 games of a playoff spot participate in a play-in tournament. If the NBA went this route, there would be 6 total teams participating, including the awful Washington Wizards and the third-from-last Phoenix Suns.

Among the four plans discussed on the Board of Governors call today was one in which teams that are within six games of a playoff spot would be invited to compete in regular season games, then a play-in tourney for the final playoff spots, sources told ESPN.

— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) May 29, 2020

I’ve personally gone back and forth on how the NBA should return. But with each new format that gets proposed the more, I hate them. Doing anything to try and get the Pelicans into the playoffs will either lead to bad Eastern Conference teams getting into the playoffs, the possibility of Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks losing their playoff spot, or just blatantly showing that the NBA does not care about anyone but Zion.

Most of the General Managers seem to be on my side and just want the current playoff teams to play. Why do we need all these gimmicks? The last time the NBA played a lockout season was in 2011. Only 66 games were played but the season went on as normal. Every team has already played 65 games, so because they’ve played one less game there should be a tournament? Is it necessary to allow Phoenix the chance to squeeze in because they fell apart this season? It is absolutely ridiculous and an obvious attempt to get Zion Williamson into the playoffs.