NEW YORK — The NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament began on Friday night, and like anything else that’s new, the reception of the idea has been polarizing.

The tournament puts every team in one of six five-team groups. Each team plays four pool play games to determine six group winners and two wild-card teams to determine who advances to the knockout stage, with the semifinals and championship being played in December in Las Vegas. Every game except the championship counts toward the regular-season standings.

The in-season tournament concept is common in other sports around the world, especially soccer, but has inspired debate about its place in the NBA. Some critics view it as gimmicky, especially after crazy court designs were unveiled this week. Others have been open-minded about it. It makes these early-season games more interesting, but there could be more done to incentivize players to care.

Inside the league among the players, there has certainly been some pushback. Former Celtics guard Marcus Smart didn’t mince words when he was asked about it last month.

“Being completely honest, nobody cares about that,” Smart said. “It’s the big one (NBA Finals) that we care about. I’ve had mixed feelings on it from players.”

Celtics All-Star Jaylen Brown, the vice president of the National Basketball Players Association said Saturday that when the league proposed the idea of an in-season tournament, there were mixed feelings about it.

“We’ll see. Definitely something that came over from soccer,” Brown said. “The whole idea behind it was to try to create some more revenue, get some more fans watching, get people more engaged. It’s a long season. Around this time of the year, like viewership takes a big dip in terms of fans watching and people participating, so this is a way to of re-engage the fans, re-engage the players and hopefully make for better business down the line. …

“Every player that you ask might have their own, mixed feelings about it. But we voted on it and all of the team representatives that represent each team put their vote in, we had conversations about it and we agreed that more revenue or whatever couldn’t hurt. It’s more revenue in our pockets, it goes in the BRI (basketball-related income), so the players agreed on it. It’s hard to tell or get a gauge of enthusiasm, but it’s definitely mixed reviews all amongst the league.”

The Celtics begin group play of the in-season tournament on Friday at home against the Nets and will play at the Raptors on Nov. 17, at the Magic on Nov. 24 and at home against the Bulls on Nov. 28 to conclude group play. They’re among the favorites to win the inaugural tournament.

Kristaps Porzingis, for one, is a big fan of the tournament.

“I love it,” Porzingis said. “In Europe, we always have like some sort of tournament preseason or during the year, so like when I was growing up, I always enjoy those kinds of tournaments. Kind of more spotlight, something that’s midseason and stuff like that. So I think been presented really well here in the NBA. We’ll see, we’ll see when it happens, but I believe it’s going to be a great success. Although I know a lot of people are a little bit skeptical, I think it’s going to be a huge success and I look forward to hopefully winning it. …

“Of course we want to win it,” Porzingis added. “We want to win everything. Why not be the first in-season tournament champs? Of course, it’s going to be tough. There are many good teams but any competition, any game, any quarter, anything, we want to win it all. And we’re going to give our all to win it.”