The NBA Return. The NBA board voted 29-1 for the resumption of the regular season on July 31. Orlando will host the 2019-20 season as the league will use the Walt Disney Resort for the games.
The only team that voted against this was the Trail Blazers. Even though the team supports the initiative overall, they pushed for different, more innovative ways to resume the season. Specifically, the Trail Blazers believe that the August 15’s draft lottery odds should be determined based on regular-season points, an initiative that was discussed but not implemented.
Details of the Season
The format will include the eight best teams from each division plus six teams who were at least six wins away from the eighth place. That results in a total of 13 Western and nine Eastern Conference teams facing each other in their respective divisions.
There will be eight “seeding” games to determine who makes it to the playoffs, with the top eight teams making it to the next stage. If the team at the ninth place is four wins away from the eighth spot, there will be an additional play-in tournament between the two.
Notable Changes
The NBA will use three courts at the Walt Disney Resort for the games. The season will be extended 16 days so that either five or six games will be played in a day with four-hour breaks in between each in order to account for warm-ups and possible overtimes.
Safety Measures
The COVID-19 situation is accounted for as well. The league will implement daily tests and it will assert the policy of social distancing upon players and coaches, although they will still be allowed to spend time in outdoor facilities together.
The staff will be prohibited from entering the players’ rooms, and the ‘flow’ of the system will be designed to eliminate crowded hallways.
In case a player tests positive for the Coronavirus, he will be quarantined but the games will continue without him.
Conclusion
What we see with this format is the eagerness of the teams and the league officials to finally resume the season, and it seems like the compromises were quite light considering the circumstances.
Is it the right decision to resume the basketball season? Do you want this?
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