It isn’t an even playing field.
After the Knicks face the Bucks on Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament, the rival Heat will be playing the sub.-500 Raptors on Wednesday.
The Cavaliers will be at home for the surprising Magic.
The 76ers meet the woebegone Wizards and the Nets take on the inconsistent Hawks then host Washington on Friday.
It’s just one game, but in April when it comes time for playoff seeding, it could be the difference between hosting an opening-round series and going on the road. Between a winnable round and a tough one.
One game can really matter in the end.
The Knicks (10-7), simply, aren’t being rewarded for advancing. If anything, they are being punished.
They will end up facing Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard and the title-contending, 13-5 Bucks five times this season, and on three occasions in the span of three weeks.
Not everyone in the Eastern Conference will be playing the same schedule for once.
“The thing is, it’s like, whatever your circumstances are, you make the best of them,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “They tell us we have to play this team five times, we play them five times. And be ready, whatever it is. If they say it it’s eight times. Whatever the schedule is. Sometimes it’s in your favor, sometimes it’s not. Just be ready to play. That’s where we want the focus to be.”
If by chance the Knicks knock off Milwaukee on the road, they then fly to Las Vegas for the semifinals next Thursday and potentially the title game two days later.
Thibodeau’s team has to fly back across the country for a home game with the Raptors the following Monday before starting a trip out west in Utah two days later.
That’s a ton of travel, putting the Knicks at a disadvantage. The quarterfinals and semifinals count toward the standings, but the championship game does not.
“That was one of the quirks that they had talked about. And there’s also a quirk and a way in which you might have more road games than home games,” Thibodeau said. “So there’s a couple things. And I think eventually, it’ll all get ironed out. But they talked about that initially.”
To most of the Knicks’ core, the financial bonus to winning the tournament is minor. A drop in the bucket.
Each player on the championship team earns $500,000.
It’s $200,000 for the losing team in the final and all semifinalists get $100,000.
Just by advancing to this point, every Knick received $50,000.
Josh Hart joked about buying a new watch if the Knicks win it all.
But to other players on the roster not earning nearly as much as the likes of Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle, RJ Barrett and Hart, it would be a significant payday.
“From a money standpoint, 500K is a lot to anybody. It’s a lot of money. I don’t care what anybody says,” Randle said. “But for the guys that are not making as much, it’s a big deal. We definitely want to win it for them. They put a lot into this.”