Dec. 22 start to season seen as likely

Team representatives for the NBA players’ union will vote Thursday or Friday on a 72game schedule that begins Dec. 22, according to reports and Lakers forward Jared Dudley.

Despite the quick turnaround after last month’s NBA Finals, the expectation is that the players will approve the NBA’s proposal because it salvages revenue.

Assuming the schedule is approved, free agency would begin soon after the Nov. 18 draft, followed by training camp Dec. 1.

The schedule is compact but travel is reduced. The proposal also includes a playin tournament for the No. 7 to No. 10 seeds in each conference, which gets more teams involved in the playoff race and could be adopted by the league in future seasons.

There’s a preference among several players to move the start date to MLK Day on Jan. 18, which would require either a shorter regular season or an extension of the playoffs into the end of August. However, the NBA estimates that a December start could generate substantially more revenue from the TV partners because it gives them the lucrative Christmas slate of games and avoids any overlap with the Summer Olympics.

The TV money directly affects the players’ salaries because of the 50/ 50 revenue sharing agreement between the league and union.

“The players will vote on it, but to be honest with you, there’s no real vote,” Dudley said Wednesday on SiriusXM NBA Radio. “Nobody is playing 55 games. We’ve got to play 72. It’s a money thing, so we’ll most likely start on the 22nd.”

Although some teams haven’t played since March, the two NBA Finalists — the Lakers and Heat — wrapped up their series about three weeks ago. So for LeBron James, 35, and Jimmy Butler, 31, it will be the shortest offseason in NBA history.