NBA owners approve plan to restart season
The NBA took a major step toward getting back on the court Thursday, with the league’s Board of Governors approving a 22-team format for restarting the league season next month at the Disney campus near Orlando.
The vote was 29-1, with the Trail Blazers casting the dissenting vote, The Associated Press reported. The National Basketball Players Association has scheduled a meeting for Friday to vote on the plan.
Teams would arrive at Disney around July 7 and play an eight-game slate starting July 31 at the ESPN Wide World Of Sports complex. All teams will stay, practice and play at Disney and the NBA Finals — which would have started Thursday if not for the coronavirus pandemic that caused the NBA to suspend its season March 11 — will likely stretch into October.
“The Board’s approval of the restart format is a necessary step toward resuming the NBA season,” Commissioner Adam Silver (above) said. “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.”
The eight-game slate will help determine playoff seeding. From there, the league could have a play-in tournament for the final spot in the Eastern and Western conference postseason fields.
“While there is still work to be done, we applaud all the effort and collaboration that has gone into finding a safe, competitive format,” Magic CEO Alex Martins said. “It has always been our feeling that sports have the ability to bring people together and we look forward to restarting the NBA season while using that platform to drive meaningful social impact at this period of time.”
There are numerous other details to continue working through, including finalizing specifics of what the testing plan at Disney will entail and calculating the financial ramifications of playing fewer games.
The NBPA and the NBA are working on “lengthy” medical protocols. The details will be shared with teams once discussions between the sides are completed.
While working to finish this season, the league also has made decisions on next season — with the draft lottery rescheduled for Aug. 25, the draft for Oct. 15, and opening night for the 2020-21 campaign is tentatively set for Dec. 1.
The G League also announced Thursday that it canceled the remainder of this season.
The 22 Disney-bound clubs would play somewhere between 71 and 75 games before the playoffs begin, down from the customary 82-game slate. The teams that didn’t qualify for the restart will see their seasons end after having played somewhere between 64 and 67 games. Roughly 15% of what would have been the full regular season won’t be played, which means players stand to lose around $600 million in salary.