LeBron James whines about NBA's play-in tournament, but the postseason scale was tipped in his favor for years

Like MLB's wild card expansion, the NBA's play-in tournament should be adopted permanently

LeBron James doesn't like the NBA's new postseason format, which includes a play-in tournament for the Nos. 7 and 8 seeds. As it works, only the top six seeds are guaranteed a playoff spot. The 7-8 seeds have to win a play-in series to get in, and the 9-10 seeds have to win two series. "Whoever came up with that s--- needs to be fired," LeBron said of the play-in tournament, after the Los Angeles Lakers' loss to Toronto on Sunday night.  LeBron's gripe echoes that of Luka Doncic and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, both of whom have been recently critical of the new play-in format. Not coincidentally, the Mavericks and Lakers are both in danger of having to play their way into the playoffs through the play-in tournament. Obviously they're not going to think it's fair that a team that played all season to earn a playoff spot would then have to get through an additional potential three-game series.