Report: NBA's 1st In-Season Tournament's Final Four to Be December 7, 9 in Las Vegas

The NBA doesn't have a team in Las Vegas, but four squads will be playing there during the upcoming campaign as part of the new in-season tournament.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Wednesday that the in-season tournament's final four will take place on Dec. 7 and 9 in Las Vegas. Statistics accumulated during every game in the tournament will count toward the regular season except for the championship game.

The NBA also announced Wednesday that ESPN's NBA Today will broadcast a special episode on Saturday that will provide specific details about the inaugural in-season tournament, such as the full list of dates, the group drawings, the locations and the trophy unveiling.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has publicly discussed adding such a tournament for years, and it will become a reality in 2023-24.

He told reporters in April the tournament will "look different" for viewers.

"The players will be wearing different uniforms," he added. "Maybe the court will look different. You'll know that it's not just a regular-season game."

Silver also explained that the tournament will feature an initial round, knockout round and pool play ahead of the final four in an effort to "create new games of consequences during the regular season."

Ben Rohrbach of Yahoo Sports reported on the topic in April and noted every game except for the championship one will still count toward the regular season standings. The two teams that play in the title contest will play one more game than the 82 the other teams play across the campaign, but each player on the victors of the in-season tournament will receive $500,000.

It frankly won't be a massive change.

This tournament isn't going to outweigh the race for the championship. It isn't going to add a significant amount of games for players, which may, in turn, have incentivized teams to rest their primary stars.

And it could lead to some additional matchups fans might not otherwise see during the regular season.

Holding the semifinals and finals in Las Vegas will also give fans in a market where there isn't a team the opportunity to go to games.