They need to go all in on giving people to cheer for something you have pride in.

My idea- A break in the NBA schedule for a regional tournament. Have it be an 8 team tournament where players team up with others based on where they were born or raised. US vs the world.

US will be split into 4 regions- West coast, East coast, Midwest and South.

World would be tougher to split, but I would guess something like this- Europe, America (Canada + Central and South America), Africa + Asia, Oceania

If a team can't field a full squad, they get to draft from remaining players who were not selected for their regions squad to help represent their region. Priority to those with ties to the region.

There are too many games anyways, so no need to add these games on top of the schedule. Just cut the schedule down.