NBA Schedule

More Details On NBA’s Tentative Summer Schedule

June 8th, 2020 at 3:47pm CST by Luke Adams

The National Basketball Players Association held a call on Monday in which the players’ union discussed several proposed dates for the NBA schedule this summer, according to Shams Charania of Stadium (video link).

We already know that July 31 is the target date to begin the eight “seeding games” and that the plan is for Game 7 of the NBA Finals (if necessary) to fall on October 12. Charania’s reporting sheds some light on the gaps between those dates. Here are a few more tentative dates for the 2020 postseason, per Charania:

August 16-17: Play-in tournament(s)
August 18: First round of playoffs begin
September 1: Conference Semifinals begin
September 15: Conference Finals begin
September 30: NBA Finals begin

These dates aren’t set in stone, but the plan gives us a clearer idea of what the summer schedule figures to look like. If these dates stick, there would likely be a back-to-back set for each team in the first round of the postseason, which has been previously reported. Beginning in the second round, there should be no more back-to-backs.

Based on the dates Charania provides, it looks like a back-to-back set would also be necessary for a play-in tournament if two games are required (ie. if the No. 9 team beats the No. 8 team in the first game). Presumably, whichever team comes out of that tournament wouldn’t have to start its first round series until August 19, but it could still be a pretty grueling stretch for the eventual No. 8 seed ahead of a postseason matchup with the Bucks or Lakers.

NBPA Views December 1 Start Date For 2020/21 As “Unlikely”

June 5th, 2020 at 4:55pm CST by Luke Adams

The National Basketball Players Association announced today that it has approved further negotiations with the NBA on its resumption plan and various changes to the league’s calendar. However, the NBPA also told its players that it considers a December 1 start date for the 2020/21 regular season “unlikely,” reports Shams Charania of The Athletic.

As we noted in our earlier story, the players’ union and the league still need to work out a number of details, with many aspects of the Collective Bargaining Agreement expected to be revisited and renegotiated.

NBPA executive director Michele Roberts has informed members that next season’s start date and “a myriad of items” will be part of the union’s negotiations with the NBA in the coming weeks, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).

A November 10 training camp date and December 1 regular season tip-off date were among the most surprising details put forth by the NBA on Thursday. There’s a belief that the league hopes to start the 2020/21 season that early in part because it would allow next year’s Finals to wrap up before the Tokyo Olympics begin on July 23, 2021.

However, since this year’s NBA Finals could run as late as October 12, some players could have less than a month off if such an aggressive timeline is approved. As such, those proposed 2020/21 dates were considered tentative and subject to change even before Charania’s report this afternoon.

Details related to the league’s health and safety protocols for this summer’s restart will also need to be negotiated and finalized. A number of financial issues – including how much players are ultimately paid for 2019/20 and what the salary cap for ’20/21 will look like – will need to be addressed and resolved as well.

Restart Notes: Scheduling, NBPA, Testing, TV Deals

June 4th, 2020 at 9:53pm CST by Luke Adams

Although the National Basketball Players Association is expected to approve the NBA’s return-to-play plan, a long list of financial, competitive, and scheduling details need to be negotiated for the 2020/21 season, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). As Wojnarowski details, most of the new dates shared and/or confirmed today – such as August 25 for the draft lottery and October 15 for the draft – are still considered tentative for the time being.

Meanwhile, Wojnarowski passed along several more “preliminary expectations” on how the schedule will work this summer in Orlando. According to Woj (via Twitter), there will be a 16-day regular season, with five or six games played each day. Each team is expected to play one back-to-back set within its eight regular season games, while the NBA Finals will feature games every other day.

Here’s more on the NBA’s restart:

NBPA executive director Michele Roberts admitted she was caught off guard by the NBA’s aggressive turnaround plan between this season and next, writes Wojnarowski. The league is tentative targeting November 10 for opening training camps for next season, with December 1 tentatively penciled in to be opening night. The NBA Finals may not end until October 12, meaning a couple teams could get less than a month off. “I was surprised to see it,” Roberts told ESPN. As Woj notes, the NBPA will have to sign off on changes to the league’s calendar, so those dates aren’t set in stone yet.
Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst of ESPN have published a helpful primer on the NBA’s return, sharing details on where games will actually be played at Disney (The Arena, HP Field House, and Visa Athletic Center) and how often the league plans to test individuals inside the bubble for COVID-19 (daily, per ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne).
In a wide-ranging look at the NBA’s restart, Sam Amick of The Athletic cites sources who say that the eight games teams will play before the postseason this summer will all count toward those clubs’ regional sports network TV deals. That’s significant from a financial perspective — Amick notes that the Lakers make approximately $1.5MM per game from their deal with Spectrum SportsNet, while even the lower-end deals net about $200K per game.

Restart Notes: Blazers, Camps, 2020/21 Schedule

June 4th, 2020 at 3:06pm CST by Luke Adams

The Trail Blazers prevented Adam Silver‘s proposal to the NBA’s Board of Governors today from receiving unanimous approval, registering the lone dissenting vote on the 22-team plan.

As Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN explains (via Twitter), the Trail Blazers are “eager” to resume the season, but voted against the plan because they felt their were more “competitive and innovative” ideas on the table. The team’s “no” vote also reflected some feedback ownership received from players, Woj adds (via Twitter).

As Woj notes, it sounds like one of the Blazers’ concerns was related to the league’s decision on how lottery odds will be calculated. Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets that the franchise also preferred a 20-team format instead of the 22-team one the league chose.

While Portland still has a chance to make the postseason in the approved format, it will be challenging. Even if the Blazers move ahead of the Kings and Pelicans – and stay ahead of the Spurs and Suns – they’ll need to keep pace with the Grizzlies and then likely beat Memphis twice in a row to earn the West’s No. 8 seed.

Here are a few more odds and ends related to the NBA’s restart plans:

Within his report on the NBA’s return, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski cites sources who say that teams are expected to begin training in Orlando between July 9-11. Shams Charania of The Athletic reported earlier today that teams are expected to travel to Orlando on July 7, so if both dates are accurate, it sounds like there will be no quarantine period upon arriving. The league reportedly plans to have teams start regular coronavirus testing on June 22.
Even as the NBA moves forward with its plans for resuming the season, Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today (Twitter link) hears that the league is prepared for the possibility that its plans could be impacted by changes in the COVID-19 situation.
Along those lines, one coach who was on a recent call with the NBA tells Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (Twitter link) that Adam Silver has said he’s not afraid to pull the plug on the league’s return altogether if it’s deemed unsafe.
According to Frank Isola of SiriusXM NBA Radio (Twitter link), the NBA is believed to be targeting a mid-July Finals for 2021. That timeline would potentially compress next season’s NBA calendar to some extent but would free players up to participate in the Olympics, which were postponed to July 23 – August 8, 2021.

NBA Confirms 22-Team Plan, Announces Lottery Details

June 4th, 2020 at 2:13pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA has officially announced that its Board of Governors voted in favor of commissioner Adam Silver‘s recommendation to resume the season this summer with 22 teams in attendance, issuing a press release to confirm the news and offering several more details.

“The Board’s approval of the restart format is a necessary step toward resuming the NBA season,” said Silver said in a statement. “While the COVID-19 pandemic presents formidable challenges, we are hopeful of finishing the season in a safe and responsible manner based on strict protocols now being finalized with public health officials and medical experts. We also recognize that as we prepare to resume play, our society is reeling from recent tragedies of racial violence and injustice, and we will continue to work closely with our teams and players to use our collective resources and influence to address these issues in very real and concrete ways.”

Here are some of the details announced or confirmed by the league in today’s release:

All of the dates we’ve heard within the last week, including a tentative start date of July 31, a draft date of October 15, and a 2020/21 start date of December 1, are accurate.
As expected, once the playoffs begin, they’ll follow a traditional format — each series will be a best-of-seven, and the Eastern and Western Conference will be kept separate until the Finals.
The draft lottery – rescheduled for August 25 – will be made up of the eight teams not involved in the league’s restart and the six teams that don’t make the postseason. Those teams’ lottery seeds and odds will be based on their records through March 11. So even if the Trail Blazers go 2-6 when play resumes and the Suns go 6-2, passing them in the standings, Phoenix will still have better lottery odds if neither team makes the playoffs.
- Note: Here’s what the odds will look like if the Grizzlies, Magic, and Nets hang onto their playoff spots.
The rest of the draft order will be based on the 16 playoff teams’ combined records across regular season games and “seeding games,” which is what the league is calling the eight games being played this summer. For instance, the Heat (41-24) are currently projected to draft 23rd, but if they go 1-7 when play resumes, they’ll likely move up in the draft.

Additionally, while the NBA didn’t formally confirm these dates, Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links) says the league informed the Board of Governors of the following dates on today’s call:

June 15: Players located internationally return to their team’s market.
June 21: All players report to their team’s market.
June 22: Coronavirus testing begins.
June 30: Training camps begin.
July 7: Players travel to Orlando.

It’s still not exactly clear what the schedule will look like between July 7-31. There may be some sort of quarantine period for players. Camps figured to be resumed, and Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press reports (via Twitter) that some exhibition games are expected to take place.

NBA Plans On October 18 Free Agency, Shortened Offseason

June 4th, 2020 at 1:38pm CST by Luke Adams

In addition to rescheduling the 2020 draft to October 15, the NBA also informed the Board of Governors today that it’s targeting October 18 for the start of free agency, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter).

Assuming that date – and others that have been reported this week – are accurate, the 2020 free agent period – which will headlined by the likes of Anthony Davis and Brandon Ingram, among others – could begin just six days after the NBA Finals end. That would represent the start of an extremely abridged 2020 offseason.

As Charania details, the NBA is tentatively targeting November 10 for the opening of 2020/21 training camps and December 1 for next season’s opening night.

Typically, there’s more than a three-month gap between the end of the NBA Finals and the start of training camps, and approximately a four-month gap between the end of the Finals and the start of next season. Based on Charania’s report, that timeline would shrink drastically this year, with teams in the Finals potentially getting less than a month off before reporting to camp for the new season.

It’s worth noting that while the NBA’s plan received Board of Governors approval today, the National Basketball Players Association hasn’t signed off on every aspect of it, so that shortened offseason may receive some push-back from players.

There had been speculation that the NBA might target Christmas Day for the start of the ’20/21 campaign, perhaps even pushing opening night into the new year. I wouldn’t assume that outcome is entirely off the table — getting fans back into arenas will be a major priority next season as the NBA looks to recoup lost revenue, so the league’s plans will likely hinge in part on whether or not local governments have loosened or lifted restrictions on mass gatherings.

How NBA’s Summer Schedule May Work

June 3rd, 2020 at 3:07pm CST by Luke Adams

With only 22 of 30 teams returning to action this summer and playing just eight games apiece, the NBA will have to revamp the remainder of its regular season schedule. According to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), the league’s plan is for teams to continue their previous schedule when play resumes, skipping over bottom-eight clubs when they come up on the schedule.

For instance, when the season was suspended, the Lakers‘ next seven games were scheduled to be against Houston, Denver, Utah (twice), Charlotte, Detroit, and Toronto. Based on Goodwill’s report, the Lakers’ first five games when play resumes could be against the Rockets, Nuggets, Jazz (twice), and Raptors.

While that plan will work for some clubs, it will require tweaking in other cases — for example, the Magic‘s upcoming schedule would call for them to play Boston in their sixth and eighth games, but the Celtics have eight games against top-22 teams on their schedule before that first matchup with Orlando.

As Goodwill acknowledges (via Twitter), playing out the previously-scheduled games won’t work for every team, so the NBA is expected to use the original schedule as a guide, using an algorithm to fill in gaps or imbalances.

The approach makes sense, since it should help the league avoid a scenario in which teams that had already completed their regular-season matchups against one another square off again. It should also result in some important games among teams fighting for the playoffs. For example, the Nets and Magic could end up playing each other twice, while the Grizzlies may face the Pelicans twice.

Categories:
NBA Schedule

NBA Expected To Approve 22-Team Return-To-Play Format

June 3rd, 2020 at 11:25am CST by Luke Adams

11:25am: The NBA’s Board of Governors is expected to approve Silver’s plan on Thursday, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

10:00am: When he meets with the NBA’s Board of Governors on Thursday, commissioner Adam Silver intends to propose a return-to-play plan that will see 22 teams resume their seasons, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic.

The NBA reportedly discussed proposals involving 16, 20, 22, or 30 teams last week, with that 22-team format gaining increased support. Although the ownership groups from teams like the Hawks and Bulls expressed a desire to participate, per Charania, the plan will exclude them and the rest of the NBA’s bottom-eight teams in order to limit – to some extent – the number of people the league will have to bring into its “bubble” in Orlando.

As Charania details, the 22-team format would bring back the 16 current playoff teams, along with six additional clubs who are within six games of a postseason spot (the Trail Blazers, Pelicans, Kings, Spurs, Suns, and Wizards).

The plan would see those 22 clubs play eight regular season games apiece, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), before a play-in tournament is held for the eighth seed. The play-in format would be as follows, per Charania:

If the No. 9 seed is more than four games behind the No. 8 seed, the No. 8 seed would automatically earn the playoff spot.
If the No. 9 seed is within four games of the No. 8 seed, those two teams would enter a play-in tournament for the final playoff spot in the conference. Such a tournament would be double-elimination for the No. 8 seed and single-elimination for the No. 9 seed (ie. a best-of-three series, with the No. 8 seed given a 1-0 lead to start).

Currently, the Grizzlies hold a 3.5-game lead on Portland, New Orleans, and Sacramento in the West, with San Antonio four games back, and Phoenix six games back. In the East, the Magic have a 5.5-game lead on the Wizards, so Washington would need to make up some ground to force a play-in tournament.

Besides giving those six current lottery teams a chance to make the postseason, the format will allow all 22 clubs to surpass 70 regular season games, ensuring that many of them meet the requirements for regional TV contracts, which will help out the league financially.

According to Charania, July 31 remains the target date for the resumption of the 2019/20 season, with the draft lottery and combine – which had been postponed indefinitely – now expected to take place in August. Presumably, those events would take different forms than they normally do, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s not clear yet how the 2020 lottery odds may be affected by the play-in tournament format.

The NBA’s proposal for the resumption of the season is also expected to include many medical and safety protocols, Charania notes. Sources tell The Athletic that those protocols will likely include players showering at their hotels rather than in the arena, inactive players sitting in the stands instead of on the bench, and players not being permitted to bring guests into the “bubble” until the postseason begins.

Any proposal from the NBA will require approval from at least three-quarters of the league’s Board of Governors (ie. 23 of 30 team owners). However, even if the plan isn’t every club’s first choice, there’s an expectation that team owners will get behind Silver and vote in favor of his proposal.

The Board of Governors’ Thursday call is scheduled for 12:30pm eastern time, tweets Wojnarowski.

Proposed NBA Plan Would Complete Finals By October 12

June 2nd, 2020 at 4:11pm CST by Luke Adams

Last week, we heard that the NBA was tentatively circling July 31 on its calendar as a target date for the resumption of the 2019/20 season. Today, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski provides another important detail on the NBA’s proposed timeline, tweeting that the league is eyeing October 12 as the last possible date for Game 7 of the 2020 Finals.

Wojnarowski notes in a follow-up tweet that the league is still working through details on its return-to-play plan with the NBPA. As such, it’s not clear whether that October 12 date is part of the tentative proposal for now, or if it’s just the latest possible Game 7 date that has been discussed, out of a handful of possibilities.

The NBA intends to bring a proposal to its Board of Governors on Thursday for a vote, so the details of the plan will likely need to be finalized soon.

During the first month or two following the suspension of the season, reports suggested that the NBA preferred not to have the 2019/20 season run beyond Labor Day. The new timeline reflects the league’s changing stance on that issue.

The NBA has seemingly become more willing to start the 2020/21 season much later than usual in the hopes that by the time opening night arrives, fans will be allowed back in arenas. Given how much revenue is generated from ticket sales and in-arena purchases, the league likely won’t be in any rush to begin next season until states have lifted bans on large gatherings, at least to some extent.

If the season runs into early October, 2020’s draft and free agency period likely wouldn’t take place until mid-to-late October at the earliest. It also seems unlikely that the ’20/21 campaign will tip off before Christmas.

Players Oppose Going Straight To Postseason When Play Resumes

May 29th, 2020 at 4:32pm CST by Luke Adams

Appearing on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Friday (video link), Ramona Shelburne reported that NBA players she has spoken to are opposed to the idea of advancing directly to the postseason when the league resumes play.

“The one thing that they really don’t want to do is go straight to the playoffs,” Shelburne said. “They might have essentially four months off between March 11 and whenever we get the season resumed, and nobody wants the first meaningful game they play to be a playoff game. They need at least a week – maybe even longer than that – of real games that count for something before they play a playoff game.”

Some of the proposed scenarios for the NBA return would involve just bringing back the 16 playoff teams and advancing directly to the postseason; others would involve only teams at or near the bottom of the playoff picture participating in a play-in tournament. Shelburne suggests that neither of those solutions would be favorable for teams at the top of the postseason picture, who would want some time to shake off the rust and re-establish their chemistry before jumping into the playoffs.

Earlier today, we relayed Shams Charania’s report on the four scenarios the league discussed in its conference call with the Board of Governors call today. We noted in that story that bringing back all 30 teams seems unlikely. Based on Shelburne’s report, it sounds like the NBPA may not be on board with jumping directly to the playoffs with just 16 teams either.

That would leave two scenarios — a World Cup-esque play-in pool, featuring 20 teams, and a “playoffs-plus” option that may feature 22 teams. Shelburne and Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer provided a few more updates on that second option this afternoon, offering the following details:

Teams within six games of a playoff spot would be invited to participate, per Shelburne (Twitter link). That means the Trail Blazers, Pelicans, Kings, Spurs, Suns, and Wizards would join the 16 current playoff teams.
All 22 teams would likely play eight regular-season games apiece, then a play-in tournament would be held for the eighth seed in each conference, according to O’Connor (Twitter link).
While the proposal isn’t yet finalized, it sounds as if conferences would remain in place for the postseason under this scenario, O’Connor adds.

The solution would check off a few boxes for the NBA. It would give every playoff team a solid ramping-up period before the postseason; it would allow many of those 22 teams to reach the 70-game threshold necessary for regional TV contracts; and it would give every team in Orlando something to play for without the league having to bring back all 30 clubs.

However, as O’Connor observes in another tweet, there are some potential downsides as well. Timing could be an issue if the NBA is aiming to resume play on July 31 and requires two or three weeks of regular season games before beginning the playoffs.

Plus, the particulars of the play-in tournament are unclear — for instance, the Magic are currently 5.5 games up on the Wizards and could increase that gap with eight more regular season games to play. Would Washington still be given a chance to steal the eighth seed in that scenario?

There’s no indication yet that the NBA is leaning toward that 22-team concept, and even if the league goes in that direction, it’s possible some details would be tweaked, so we’ll have to wait for further updates on talks between the league, teams, and players. There’s hope that a vote will happen next week.

Load More Posts