Looking into the next weeks as NBA moves toward a restart
For the first time in three months, since the NBA closed gyms and only reopened them with strict protocols that excluded head coaches, Mike D’Antoni will be permitted on Tuesday to watch his players work out.
There won’t be much to see. He has seen his players catch and shoot before. Reports of players who have gotten thinner or stronger have made their way to those that have not be permitted to watch the voluntary, individual workouts so far.
There is something significant, however, in every step in the direction of relative normalcy as the NBA moves toward its planned restart in near Orlando, Fla., next month.
“I’m excited we’re taking steps toward getting the whole team together and playing,” D’Antoni said. “This is the first step, getting in the gym. We’re starting the process of getting back to a new normal.”
With the NBA and National Basketball Players Association hoping to restart its season amid surges in positive COVID-19 cases in the counties where the Disney campus is located, momentum has continued to build toward salvaging the 2019-20 season.
The week will include several significant stages as the NBA moves toward restarting its season, with all players required to have returned to their home markets by Monday. Once back in their home markets, players are expected to remain at home other than for training or treatment at team facilities, essential activities (such as grocery shopping) or socially distanced outdoor activities.
JUNE
TUESDAY
• COVID-19 testing begins for players and staff and are held every other day along with temperature and other symptom checks each day as players and others arrive at facilities.
• A transaction window opens (11 a.m.) for all 30 teams. Players that played in the NBA or G League this season and were not under contract with an international team are eligible to play in the completion of the season. Teams may bring 15 players with standard NBA contracts and two two-way players to Florida.
• Head coaches can attend voluntary individual workouts with no more than four players allowed at facilities at a time and just one at each basket. WEDNESDAY
• Deadline for players to tell teams involved in the resumption of the season if they are opting to not participate. Players may choose not to join their teams for the restart of the season without penalty but would not be paid for games they miss. SATURDAY
• Teams involved in the restart may sign players to two-way contracts. SUNDAY
• Deadline at 4. p.m. to waive players.
JULY
JULY 1
• Individual workouts for players involved in the restart become mandatory through the departure to Florida. No more than eight players are permitted at facilities at a time. JULY 7, 8, 9
• Teams arrive in the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex outside Orlando. JULY 9-29
• Following the testing and isolation days after arriving at the Disney complex, team training camps begin. JULY 21
• Scrimmages, scheduled by the NBA, begin. JULY 30-AUG. 14
• Season resumes with eight “seeding games” per team.
AUGUST
AUG. 15-16
• Play-in games will be played to determine the eighth seed in each conference, if necessary. The games will be played if a ninth-place team is within four games of a playoff spot. The eighth-place team would need to win one game; the ninthplace team would need to win twice to advance to the postseason. AUG. 17
• Playoffs begin. All four rounds are to be the customary best-of-seven series. The start of the playoffs would move up to Aug. 15 or 16 if play-in games are not necessary. AUG. 30
• With the first round complete, a limited number of family members or guests will be permitted on the Disney campus. AUG. 31- SEPT. 13
• Conference semifinals.
SEPTEMBER
SEPT. 15-28
• Conference finals. SEPT. 30
• NBA Finals.