trophy or banner.
For instance, Silver is worried that in a given year only 3-4 teams (in the last decade really only 1-2 teams) have a realistic chance to win the title. So, he wanted to keep divisions to give the other teams a chance to win something. Jazz/Nuggets/OKC can hang a banner when they win the division etc.
This is the same reason he is wanting a midseason tournament, to give more teams a chance to win something.