NBA Is Transforming Into the NFL, Not the NHL: Luxury Tax Revolutionizes Basketball
The new era of the NBA is here with stricter luxury tax rules. While this year's focus has been on unpredictability, long-term changes will be more rooted in sustainability. Recent years have offered NBA and NHL playoffs simultaneously and shown completely different tournaments. NBA playoffs have traditionally been about order, with few major upsets and the highest-seeded teams usually advancing deep into the postseason. NHL playoffs often featured teams that barely made the playoffs but then went on Cinderella runs. The past three years, however, represent a shift for the NBA. Upsets are much more common and have led some to speculate that new rules have turned the NBA into the NHL. That's a bit of a stretch. The team with the best record in the league this season is one win away from an NBA championship . NHL Comparison Is Misleading Last year, the team with the best record won the title, and the year before that, the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference captured the c...