NBA to discuss playoff scenarios
League could vote next week on plans to restart its season
The NBA will not determine its path forward Friday, but it will take a significant step in that direction.
Though the league’s afternoon meeting of the Board of Governors will not conclude with a vote, it is expected to be the most substantive report yet about the options for restarting the season amid the coronavirus pandemic and could include a recommendation from commissioner Adam Silver.
A vote on plans to resume the season, from the number of teams involved to the format of the postseason, is not expected until next week.
Proposals in Board of Governors meetings often are made after the heavy lifting is completed for the league to know it has the votes. Norms, however, might not apply in an unprecedented crisis.
Positions are drastically different based on the variety of circumstances of teams when the season was suspended March 11, according to multiple individuals
familiar with conversations so far.
The NBA held a meeting of general managers Thursday, but that was more to hear and collect opinions than to share much about a consensus after its polling of GMs this week.
There has seemed in the past week to be momentum toward having a play-in tournament for teams on the playoff bubble when the season was halted and to have a limited schedule of games prior to the playoffs, rather than to jump directly into the postseason.
Limiting the number of teams participating could be viewed as a compromise between bringing just the 16 teams that were in playoff position in March and
bringing all 30 teams to the Disney basketball campus.
With the league already certain to limit each team’s personnel in that environment, having 20-24 teams on site, rather than all 30, could be viewed as a step toward reducing the risk of positive tests.
Teams differ, however, regarding their interest in participating. Several teams out of the playoff picture want to play some games, rather than possibly go nine months between games, while others are hesitant to compete with nothing to win and possibly draft lottery position to lose.
Beyond the number of teams involved, the league will have to decide how clubs on the playoff bubble might compete to qualify for the postseason and even the format of the post
season.
The NBA announced Saturday it had entered negotiations with Disney about a single-site scenario for games, training and housing to restart the season at the Wide World of Sports Complex outside Orlando. The league is expected to offer greater direction about bringing players back to their individual markets and expand on the voluntary individual workouts underway.
The league is expected to have several weeks of individual workouts and possibly some team activities before it would bring teams to Florida.
Any plan will require approval from the National Basketball Players Association, but Silver has been in frequent talks with union leadership, and players association director Michele
Roberts has held meetings with players to gauge opinions about resuming the season.
The only thing clear, other than that the NBA is increasingly hopeful it can salvage its season in central Florida, is that the plan will not be complete when Friday’s meeting adjourns.
“I think what will happen tomorrow is that Adam’s going to recommend to the board the different options that we’re going to have about reopening,” Bucks owner Marc Lasry said on CNBC on Thursday. “And I think the board will think about it over the weekend, and then hopefully have another meeting early next week to vote on what we all feel will be the reopening of the NBA.”