The Oklahoma City Thunder’s victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday made them the league’s seventh different champion in as many years.
And while the NBA’s newfound parity has become a polarizing topic — especially considering the means taken to achieve it — it clearly has the support of commissioner Adam Silver.
“We set out to create a system that allowed for more competition around the league,” Silver said at his annual press conference ahead of Game 1 of the Finals. “The goal being to have 30 teams all in the position, if well managed, to compete for championships. And that’s what we’re seeing here.”
It isn’t difficult to find the blueprint that Silver is attempting to emulate, as parity — or at least the perception of it — has played a key role in the NFL’s climb to the top of the sports world. And while one could argue whether or not that’s actually obtainable, no one could fault the NBA for following the NFL’s lead.
But if that’s what the NBA actually wants to do, it’s time for it to take a hard look at its offseason.
Consider the recent four-day span that featured both Sunday’s Game 7 and the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft on Wednesday night.
Just after 12 p.m. ET on Sunday, news broke that Kevin Durant had been traded to the Houston Rockets. Less than 12 hours later, the league crowned its champion following one of the most memorable Finals in recent memory. From there, NBA-focused media had all of one day (if that) to celebrate the Thunder’s title before shifting its attention to Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper and the rest of the incoming rookie class.
And now, free agency begins, with most major transactions likely to be completed by the end of next week. The NBA will effectively fit its championship game and the bulk of its offseason into a two-week window, seemingly treating the latter as a mere formality.
Roger Goodell would never.
Just look at the NFL offseason, which is carefully constructed for the league to continue to own the sports calendar until early-June. Free agency dominate March. The draft owns April. And somehow, the league has even managed to make is own schedule release and minicamps events worthy of mainstream coverage throughout May.
Sure, there are some key differences in each league’s calendar and perhaps all of this speaks more to America’s football obsession than anything else. But assuming the NBA wants to keep its regular season at 82 games and its draft before free agency — debates for another day — then a calendar like this one might have made sense for 2025:
- June 5-22: NBA Finals
- July 2: NBA Draft (both rounds)
- July 9: Free agency begins
- July 14-26: Summer League
That’s it! All you have to do is push the draft and the start of free agency back a week in order to maximize an otherwise relatively quiet time on the sports calendar (sorry baseball). And if the Finals don’t happen to go seven games, that’s fine too; the NBA Draft could certainly benefit from a longer buildup each year.
Sure, all of this is easier said than done, especially considering that the NBA offseason is only three months long compared to the NFL’s seven-month “break.” But if the goal is to follow in football’s footsteps, then there’s no reason the NBA shouldn’t at least be trying to own the time in-between the Finals and the start of NFL training camps in late-July.
Especially if the alternative forcing fans and media alike to digest a blockbuster trade, a championship game and its draft all within a 100-hour window.