Despite NBA Commissioner Adam Silver recently saying that the new NBA season might not start until next year, the league looks committed to getting on with 2020/21 as soon as possible.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the latest proposal for the new NBA campaign would see a pre-Christmas start and a regular season that consists out of 72 games. There would also be a play-in tournament prior to the start of playoffs.
Wojnarowski reports that the plan was recently presented to the Board of Governors with the next step being the discussions with NBA Players’ Association.
NBA was previously willing to push back the start of the 2020/21 season to January if that would mean allowing the fans to attend games. However, with the coronavirus pandemic not showing signs of slowing down, the league quickly shifted to a different strategy.
Other reported changes include canceling the All-Star game and All-Star weekend and replacing it with a two-week break midway through the regular season. Also, the league is considering schedule adjustments that would see teams play multiple games on one location in the style of series presented in MLB.
While there is optimism around the proposed plan, implementing it would be a huge challenge due to the short amount of time. It is also important to note that NBA Draft, free agency, and training camps would still have to occur before the season starts.
There should be more clarity on the matter past the 30th October, when NBA and NBPA need to conclude the discussions regarding the modifications of the collective bargaining agreement for the next season.
