I was told it was it was the easiest way for the Pelicans to make the playoffs and they still fumbled.
But on a serious note, my understanding has always been that with a shortened season, there was no way to determine who would've made the playoffs especially when you had teams that were making a late season push as well as teams that were struggling and you had to assume that if there wasn't a stoppage, then who knows how things would've turned out.
But most importantly, the NBA needed to do something to make the regular season matter. I still think they can improve on this by doing something similar to soccer and having different league cups or some shit. Even if it's considered consolation trophies or something, everyone needs a carrot at the end of the stick. Take the teams that didn't make the playoffs and do an NBA version of the now.
