It’s a cool evening in mid-May. NBA playoff basketball is back and you want to watch a game. However, the only game on is a Pistons vs. Bucks game. You do what any person should and turn off the tv. The NBA playoffs have become boring, and there is a simple fix for this problem. The NBA needs to get rid of conferences and make a 1-16 seed playoff. Only Bucks, Pistons and hardcore NBA fans would watch that playoff series. And as a hardcore NBA fan I watched that series, every minute of it. It went exactly as expected; the Bucks casually steam rolled the Pistons and Giannis looked like the second coming of Shaquille O’Neal. No one wants to see that series. It’s boring and would make the casual fan fall asleep. But if the format was changed the first round would be much more entertaining for everyone.

  New scenario. It’s the same day in mid-May, but instead of seeing a Bucks vs. Pistons game it’s a Bucks vs. Kings game. You’ve heard about lightning quick guard De’Aaron Fox so you decide to turn the game on. Instead of seeing the Bucks steamroll the Pistons the games would be fun and actually competitive. Even though the Bucks would still win it would be entertaining to watch. “I think the NBA 100 percent needs to change the playoffs. It doesn’t get interesting until the conference finals.” Ethan Sifers, 12. The NBA wants to become the biggest league in the world, that’s no secret. The way to do that is to get more viewers for exciting playoff matchups. East and West teams playing each other in the first round would be new, exciting, and surely draw in more viewers. It also solves another problem in the NBA, it fixes the conferences.

The Western Conference is so much better than East it is almost ridiculous. The fact that the Hornets were actually competing for a playoff spot in the East when they would easily be around the 13-15 seed in the West. The records show it as well. The eighth seed in the West had 48 wins. That is the same number as the five seed in the east and only one win off of the four seed. I can say without a doubt the Timberwolves make the playoffs in the East and they were the 11 seed in the West. Same can be said about both the Kings and Lakers who were both far superior to the Pistons. This year the West is somehow even better than last year while the East got worse. It’s laughable and must be fixed.

If the NBA doesn’t do something soon so solve the conference issue than they will never overtake the NFL as America’s top league. The NBA is trying to expand into other countries to grow its fanbase. But the real key is fixing the boring first round. Whether conferences is the key, or a shorter first round, or a wildcard spot. Something needs to change.