In a widely-expected move, NBA owners voted 29-1 Thursday to resume the 2019-20 season at Walt Disney World in Orlando, with a tentative restart date of July 31.
As reported by multiple outlets Wednesday, 22 of the league’s 30 teams will compete in eight regular season games, followed by a traditional 16-team NBA Playoffs. The regular season slate — which the league is calling “seeding games” — will consist of matchups on each team’s remaining schedule when the season was halted March 11. Per ESPN, there will be five-to-six such games over a 16-day stretch.
The latest possible date for the NBA Finals will be October 12, as first reported by ESPN. The Finals is expected to use an every-other-day format, ESPN reported Thursday, which would mean a September 30 start.
It is possible that the Finals could move up to earlier dates based on the length of previous rounds; ESPN also reported Thursday that the league will be “aggressive” in moving up playoff series, or potentially the playoffs itself should no play-in games be necessary.
The NBA Finals was supposed to have begun Thursday night.
It is not clear whether earlier rounds would also use an every-other-day format, but per ESPN the league will “likely” schedule some first round playoff games for weekday afternoons — which would allow for more games per day than the traditional weekday playoff schedule.
The league said Thursday that if the season resumes July 31, the NBA Draft Lottery would take place August 25, the NBA Draft October 15 and the start of the 2020-21 season would “likely” be December 1.
The NBA players union still has to sign off on the league’s plans, including health and safety protocols. NBPA exectuive director Michele Roberts said Thursday that she was “surprised” by the December 1 start for next season, which would come less than two months after the season’s end.
The possibility of the NBA returning at Walt Disney World was first floated publicly by reporter Keith Smith.
