yall say the regular season is meaningless yet it's where the bulk of their money comes from hence why they agreed to this schedule in the first place
& like I've said on here before, if the regular season is meaningless, and a lot of these players don't make the playoffs, which games are they playing that do matter
and finally, the NBA is an entertainment product and if the entertainment value ain't high, then it will suffer and since the players want the money, they gotta give the fans what they want