AMIDST MONTHS OF UNCERTAINTY
NBA PLANS JULY 31 RETURN?
After months of uncertainty on the fate of the 2019-20 NBA season, details of a return plan are starting to take shape.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver is reportedly considering a July 31 return date for the league, more than four months after the season was suspended due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Silver and the league office informed Board of Governors that July 31 is a target date for return of the season, sources told the sports world.
The NBA discussed four competition scenarios for restart with Board of Governors today:
– 16 teams: Directly to playoffs
– 20: Group/stage play
– 22: Games to determine seeding, play-in tournament for final seed(s)
– 30: 72-game regular season, with play-in tourney
One of the options is taking the top eight teams in both conferences and going straight to the playoffs.
Other scenarios include inviting over more than 16 teams for group/stage play to determine playoff seeding.
An option to invite all 30 teams to finish a 72-game regular season was also mulled over.
Earlier reports have pinned Disney World in Orlando, Florida as a venue to finish the season.
The resort will serve as an “NBA campus” where the teams will play, train and live during the duration of the season.
The NBA has been on hiatus since March 11 after Utah Jazz big man Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus.
The NBA is also is aiming to complete the 2020 season by mid-October, reports said Tuesday, June 2, as the league edges towards a return from the coronavirus shutdown.
ESPN reported that according to a time frame due to be voted on by NBA’s Board of Governors, Game 7 of the NBA Finals would take place no later than October 12.
The NBA and NBA Players Association are still finalizing the details of the resumption of the season, which was halted on March 11 as the coronavirus pandemic erupted.
ESPN reported that the league is planning a 22-team format for its return to play on July
31.
All games are expected to be within the confines of Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando Florida, with all teams remaining on site to minimize risk of COVID-19 outbreaks.
The NBA’s proposal to be put before the board requires support from three-quarters of the league’s 30 teams in order to be approved.
A handful of other NBA players, including Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant, Boston’s Marcus Smart and Gobert’s teammate Donovan Mitchell, also contracted the virus and have fully recovered.#