There’s concern among some NBA owners about the fact that a 22-team return-to-play format would result in a number of small-market teams not playing any games for nine months or more, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe.
The ESPN duo reports that Thunder owner Clay Bennett expressed those concerns on last Friday’s Board of Governors call, openly wondering if the NBA could bring back all 30 clubs when it resumes play. Other team owners, including Josh Harris (Sixers) and Robert Sarver (Suns) “enthusiastically” backed the idea of having as many teams as possible in the bubble environment, per Woj and Lowe, who add that Hawks owner Tony Ressler wants his team to be able to play in Orlando even without a path to the postseason.
While some team owners are in favor of having all 30 teams resume play, commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA don’t appear as bullish on that idea, given the health and safety concerns tied to bringing so many people to Orlando. Additionally, as ESPN’s report notes, Silver reminded those on Friday’s call that many players – and some teams – are “far less invested” in the idea of conducting several weeks of camps and enduring a quarantine period in order to play a handful of regular season games.
Wojnarowski and Lowe provided several more details on Friday’s conference call. We’ll round up the highlights right here:
- One Eastern Conference official on Friday’s call described the push to include as many teams as possible as follows, according to ESPN: “The message was something bigger, reminding people that some teams can’t just reopen the doors in nine of 10 months and so easily sell tickets or a sponsorship without having played basketball for that long.”
- With the NBA focusing on a 22-team return to play, there have been conversations about the teams left out of this season’s resumption holding mandatory summer training camps or even participating in regional fall leagues to help bridge the gap between seasons, per ESPN. Such a concept would need to be collectively bargained with players, and Woj and Lowe say there’s an expectation that the league will reach out to the NBPA to discuss the issue.
- The NBA is still determining how a potential play-in tournament would work in the 22-team format, Woj and Lowe say. It remains unclear how much of an advantage the current No. 8 seeds would receive in such a tournament, especially if they widen their leads on non-playoff teams when the season resumes. The unbalanced nature of bringing back 13 Western teams and just nine Eastern squads also complicates the play-in issue.
- According to ESPN’s report, the NBA estimates that a 22-team format with some regular season games and a play-in tournament will be worth “several hundred million dollars more in revenue” than a 16-team format that advances straight to the postseason.
16 or 30. 22 sucks.
Best: 15+15. Two camps under appropriate rules. The first one qualifies the 16th team in the second one.
There is no need to lead off with excitement, as there will be excitement anyway just from existing while the world shuts BB down.
They talk about a “regional fall leagues”, then they’re admitting that all 30 should get involved.
If not, there will be angry sides feeling dissed… and lesser camps will FOLLOW the major playoff camp, instead of preceding it as is natural.
Let’s not assume it’s New York fans all over, that do not want to see their disappointing sides. Silver hearing uber drivers talk is not hearing America.
They should take the teams that aren’t playoff eligible, stick them in their own bubble and conduct some sort of tournament. The results could be linked to draft order? Idk could be interesting. If they want teams to play that aren’t in the playoff race they are going to have to make it mean something
Memphis 3.5 games back over 9 seeds need to be accounted for
If not, it’s easy
Suns would ask nba to dump Memphis 6 Win games back first before resume season
It’s completely meaningless for Suns
In other words, Suns are currently at 13 seed, adjusted to 8th seed
This is only chance for Suns to take final playoffs spot
East refused to play West in the first round
It should be 20 teams at most. BUT, it’d be great of the bottom 10 teams could play a tournament style competition maybe with the top 10 teams of Canada and Mexico after the playoffs are done. Then we’d have basketball all year round and those 10 (mostly small market) teams can find new fans across boarder and pump up their home crowds.
If Silver starts with the playoffs, then lesser events will have to be scheduled later. That sequence makes no sense.
If nothing else, that means that players on the top teams will be the guinea pigs for holding sports during a pandemic.
Also for Silver’s current ideas above, remaining teams will have to brainstorm various mutinies for compelling reasons– to make money, or just to try to draw even in preparation for next season’s competition.
Bring all back. Have double counting, one for playoff and other counting from beggining for a new award (additional lottery pick up or money for a winner).
Bring all back. Have double counting, one for playoff and other counting from beggining for a new award (additional lottery pick up or money for a winner).
Man does it make so much safer to bring a stupid number of teams like 20/22/24 than a proper number like 30? Don’t think so. No one does.
Sports have started again all over the world by now, NBA is falling way behind, soccer is back in Europe for some weeks now, & coming back more & more, can’t see why it seems so hard for the NBA to go back right now & with the normal season.
One must assume they are a bunch of people who doesn’t know what to do or how to do it. No silly bubbles, no silly tourneys, just go back to play normal hoops, finish RS & playoffs as normal, just without fans!