Wouldn’t this solve the load management issue? Call it something like “Regular Season Champion” to make it shiny, or simply “NBA Top Seed”. Start retroactively adding it to past players’ résumé on different websites and media shows.
It also gives credit for beloved top seed teams that didn’t win it all (which are often the less glamorous, honest working teams) like the Suns with Steve Nash, Jazz with Rudy Gobert, and early 2000’s Kings that many people argue were robbed.
I know it isn’t the championship, it doesn’t have to be equal to a real one. But I think it should still count for something more than it currently does. Even if the NBA doesn’t officially recognize it, shouldn’t we as a community care more about this - just so being a top seed doesn’t get lost in history so easily?
82 games is a crazy amount of games. Getting some level of recognition for being the best that season isn’t an outrageous idea. Of course it shouldn’t count for anywhere near what a championship trophy counts for, but this definitely has some merit. I even like the retroactive part of it.