NBA planning a 22-team return
- The NBA is on the verge of officially announcing their plans to resume the 2020 season in Orlando, Florida. The league’s board of governors will hold a vote to approve a 22-team return Thursday, at 12:30 pm.
Reports have already stated the NBA is aiming for a July 31st return, but now we have an idea of that return may look like. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowksi, the top 13 teams in the West and the top nine teams in the East will be making the trip to Disney’s Wide World of Sports.
The NBA’s return plan includes 13 Western Conference teams and nine Eastern Conference teams.
Here’s who’s in, according to @wojespn. pic.twitter.com/8s0qYYgLtt
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) June 3, 2020
Once in Orlando, teams will play an eight-game regular-season schedule to establish playoff seeding. Teams will continue their schedule where they left off in the regular season. If a team is scheduled to play a team that isn’t in Orlando, the game is skipped and they face the next available team on their schedule.
Here’s who the Sixers may be facing in the abbreviated regular-season:
If this is accurate, #Sixers schedule will look like…
• Pacers
• Wizards
• Raptors
• Suns
• Blazers
• Rockets
• Wizards
• MagicI’d imagine that’s about as good of a draw as a team could ask for. https://t.co/lE1bHaNCEg
— adam aaronson #BLM (@SixersAdam) June 3, 2020
There may also be a Western conference play-in tournament for the eighth- and ninth-seeds. The ninth-seed would only be used in the event a team finished within four games of the eighth-seed. The eighth-seeded Grizzlies currently hold a 3.5 game lead over the Trail Blazers, Pelicans, and Kings. If it is approved, the ninth-seed may very well be in play.
The Eastern conference on the other hand – with their one non-playoff team – has no chance of a play-in tournament. Seeing as there are only nine Eastern conference teams going to Disney, the ninth seed is unlikely as well. The Wizards got the invite because they were the only team within six games of the eight seed. Everyone else in the East is seven games back or worse. Sucks to suck.
Players and coaches will have some freedoms in Orlando. They will be allowed to do things like dine outdoors at restaurants and play golf, but social distancing will be required. The NBA will conduct daily tests for COVID-19 in order to maintain player safety. Players on the bench will now sit spread out in rows, while inactive plays watch from the stands. Players will also be prohibited from inviting guests to Orlando until the start of the playoffs.
If the NBA meets it’s July 31st goal for the season to resume, the latest possible date for the season to end would be October 12th. The draft and free agency would then shortly follow. There’s a chance the 2020-21 NBA season could begin next Christmas. So things are gonna be a little bit weird for a while.
