Change in remaining opponents' cumulative winning percentage, original season vs. Orlando restart:

Pelicans: +5% (.442 -> .495)
Grizzlies: +2% (.577 -> .597)

But please, tell me more about how the NBA is bending over backwards to get Zion into the playoffs

Would the NBA benefit financially from Zion playing more games? Absolutely.

Does the Pelicans' new schedule suggest that the league did anything nefarious to make that happen? Absolutely not.

I mean come on, look at what they originally had left lol

It shouldn't be a surprise that New Orleans comes out of this looking like the team with the best chance to challenge Memphis for the 8th seed. Since, you know, that's what most simulations showed before the hiatus too. If anything, their odds went down since the season shrunk.

The Grizzlies' schedule, on the other hand, while pretty tough on paper (much like their schedule was supposed to be before the league paused), may be easier than it looks - but that depends on how seriously teams with comfortable seeding cushions will take all 8 games.

For example, Memphis' last 3 games are against the top 3 seeds in the East: Raptors, then Celtics, then Bucks. But MIL is 6.5 games up on TOR, who is 3 games up on BOS, who is 2.5 games up on MIA. Decent chance those games end up being immaterial for seeding purposes in the East.

If I had to bet on an outcome, it'd be Memphis finishing in 8th & New Orleans close enough in 9th to force that play-in scenario. Which is what the league wants, sure, but those 2 teams battling til the end is what was also most likely to occur had the season played out normally: https://twitter.com/MasonGinsberg/status/1265758609864101888

Anyway, if someone tries to tell you that the league went out of their way with scheduling to either hurt the Grizzlies or help the Pelicans, this thread is my best effort to combat that narrative.

HOWEVER: I *completely* support my fellow podcast host's approach: https://twitter.com/FearTheBrown/status/1276884770832687104