Adam Silver Says NBA Not Ready for 1-16 Playoff Seeding

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Thursday the league is "not ready" to change the postseason format by ranking all 16 playoff teams in order of record regardless of conference.

Sam Amico of Amico Hoops passed along comments Silver made on the Denver Nuggets' radio network about how the distance between opponents could cause problems.

"We're serious about looking at it," he said. "We're far from a place where there's a solution. Of course it makes sense to seed teams 1-16 in the league, but we have two conferences that are geographically apart."

Silver added the NBA would need to create a new schedule to level the playing field for all 30 teams. He also expressed concern about a hypothetical cross-country matchup, such as the Portland Trail Blazers against the Miami Heat, early in the playoffs, per Amico.

"To crisscross the country, it adds enormous fatigue to the players and it would cut down on the quality of the competition and also potentially lead to more injuries," Silver said.

At the All-Star Game in February, the fifth-year commissioner told reporters the league was working to find a playoff format "where your two best teams are ultimately going to meet in the Finals."

The Houston Rockets and reigning champion Golden State Warriors, who both reside in the Western Conference, currently own the NBA's two best records.

Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James disagreed with the 1-16 plan after Silver's comments in February, saying it "changes the landscape of the history of the game."

"It's cool to mess around with the All-Star Game. We proved you can do that," James told reporters. "But let's not get too crazy about the playoffs."

Silver has not provided a timetable for any potential changes to the format.