Assessing winners, losers as NBA plans for 2019-20 return
Restart format is another opportunity for LeBron James, but Lakers could lose in end.
The NBA is moving toward a restart of the 2019-20 season. Minor hurdles remain, but the NBA plans to resume games July 31 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex outside of Orlando, Florida, with 22 teams, then begin a full 16-team postseason with the Finals stretching into October.
Let’s take a look at the winners and losers of the format, approved by owners Thursday and by the players Friday:
Winners
NBA: This comes with a caveat. The league plans to resume play, and that’s great. But this needs to go off without problems for it to be successful. If there’s a major coronavirus-related issue, the league will fall into the loser category when all is said and done.
LeBron James: At 35 and still playing at an MVP level but with Father Time approaching, James gets another chance at a championship. Not finishing the season would have been crushing for James and, by extension, the Lakers.
Bucks: They have the best record. After losing in the conference finals last season, Milwaukee wanted to finish this season with a chance to get to the Finals. With Giannis Antetokounmpo’s potential free agency coming up, the Bucks want every chance to show him Milwaukee is the team for him.
NBA fans: This is simple enough. They get to watch the basketball they love again.
The ninth seed: If the ninth seed is within four games of the eighth seed, a play-in game between those teams will decide the last playoff spot in each conference. That’s a win for teams that otherwise wouldn’t have a shot at making the playoffs normally. The ninth seed needs to beat the eighth seed twice to make the playoffs.
Zion Williamson/Pelicans: Williamson’s Pelicans are tied with Portland and Sacramento for the ninth seed, 31⁄2 games behind Memphis. It would have been difficult (but not impossible) for those teams to overcome 31⁄2 games with 16-18 games remaining. This format makes it more possible for the ninth seed to earn a playoff spot, and that means the potential for more games featuring Williamson and New Orleans.
That’s a win for fans, too.
Losers
Lakers: This one comes with a caveat. They will end up the top seed in the West. However, instead of preparing for a firstround series against a young Memphis squad, they could up facing Williamson and the Pelicans or Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum and the Trail Blazers. The Lakers would be the favorites, but the matchup might be more difficult.
Las Vegas: While Las Vegas knows how to handle NBA-related events, Sin City is not the place to resume the season amid a pandemic. It’s much easier to gamble with familyfriendly Disney.
The eight teams left out of the restart: Those teams last played in March and won’t play again until December.
Jazz: Starting forward Bojan Bogdanovic had surgery in May to repair a ruptured ligament in his right (shooting) wrist and will miss the remainder of the season. Plus, the Jazz might still have to resolve any lingering issues between Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, who was upset by Gobert’s cavalier attitude toward COVID-19 before both tested positive.
Playoff seeding innovation: Yes, there’s the possibility of play-in games. But this could have been the perfect time to experiment with seeding teams 1-16 regardless of conference, meaning the Lakers play Orlando in the first round and two teams from the same conference could play in the Finals.
Playoff atmosphere: Iconic playoff moments are made memorable also by the crowd reaction, and we have to look no further than Kawhi Leonard’s buzzer-beater against the 76ers last season. Those plays will happen but in a mostly empty gym/arena and without the same emotion and tension of a packed arena.