Details On NBA’s Return-To-Play Plan
After suspending the 2019/20 season on March 11 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the NBA has now finalized a plan for resuming play.
We’ll use the space below to round up all the details on that plan, answering the most commonly-asked questions and updating the story with more information as it becomes available.
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Has the NBA officially approved a return-to-play plan?
The NBA’s Board of Governors approved the plan on June 4, nearly unanimously. The National Basketball Players Association also signed off on June 5.
There were a few more details to sort out after that, and a number of players have expressed reservations about the plan, but it’s moving forward. The NBA and NBPA announced a finalized agreement on June 26.
When will the NBA resume play?
The season will resume on July 30. Teams are scheduled to travel to Orlando starting on July 7 and will have training camps, followed by three exhibition games, before July 30. More details on the schedule can be found here and here.
Where will the return-to-play take place?
All games will be played at Walt Disney World in Orlando. The massive property has more than enough space to house teams, and the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex has the necessary facilities for basketball games.
Games will be played without fans in attendance at The Arena, HP Field House, and Visa Athletic Center, per ESPN. Teams will stay at the Gran Destino, Grand Floridian, and Yacht Club resorts.
How many teams will return to complete the 2019/20 season?
Twenty-two teams will participate. Those teams are as follows:
- The current Eastern Conference playoff teams (8):
- Milwaukee Bucks
- Toronto Raptors
- Boston Celtics
- Miami Heat
- Indiana Pacers
- Philadelphia 76ers
- Brooklyn Nets
- Orlando Magic
- The current Western Conference playoff teams (8):
- Los Angeles Lakers
- Los Angeles Clippers
- Denver Nuggets
- Utah Jazz
- Oklahoma City Thunder
- Houston Rockets
- Dallas Mavericks
- Memphis Grizzlies
- The teams within six games of a playoff spot (6):
- Portland Trail Blazers
- New Orleans Pelicans
- Sacramento Kings
- San Antonio Spurs
- Phoenix Suns
- Washington Wizards
The Hornets, Bulls, Knicks, Pistons, Hawks, Cavaliers, Timberwolves, and Warriors won’t be part of the NBA’s restart — their seasons are over.
Why is the NBA bringing back 22 teams instead of 30?
Adding eight more clubs to the mix would mean bringing several hundred additional individuals onto the Disney campus, increasing the risk of spreading COVID-19. The NBA didn’t consider it necessary to bring back those eight teams, who were far removed from the playoff picture and would have had no real path to the postseason had the season played out normally.
So why 22 teams instead of 16 then?
The 22-team format accomplishes two things:
- It allows teams to play a regular season schedule rather than jumping directly to the postseason.
- It will allow the NBA to experiment with a play-in tournament.
The first point is important because players on playoff teams opposed the idea of advancing directly to the postseason without playing meaningful games first. They want to be able to shake off the rest and reestablish their chemistry before jumping into do-or-die games.
Playing regular season games will also allow these 22 teams – who have played between 64 and 67 games so far – to surpass the 70-game mark for the regular season, which is an important threshold for clubs’ agreements with regional TV networks.
Meanwhile, implementing in-season and/or play-in tournaments has long been on Silver’s wish list, and this year’s unusual circumstances presented the league with the opportunity to experiment.
So regular season games will take place when play resumes?
Yes, though they’re technically not being called regular season games. Each team will play eight pre-playoff contests, referred to by the NBA as “seeding games,” for a total of 88 games between July 30 and the start of the playoffs in August.
And will the top eight teams in each conference make the playoffs at that point?
Not necessarily. If the No. 8 seed has more than a four-game lead on the No. 9 seed, then yes, the top eight teams in that conference will automatically make the postseason. On the other hand, if the No. 9 seed is within four games of the No. 8 seed, those two teams will participate in a play-in tournament.
What will that play-in tournament look like?
Essentially, it’ll be a best-of-three series with the No. 8 team getting a 1-0 lead to start. The No. 9 team will have to win twice to claim the final playoff spot in the conference, while the No. 8 team will only need to win once.
Once the playoff teams are set, will they be reseeded one through 16, regardless of conference?
No, the postseason will assume a traditional format once the No. 8 seeds are set — teams will be divided by Eastern and Western conferences and will play best-of-seven series.
What coronavirus-related protocols will the NBA institute to ensure players’ safety?
Players, coaches, and staffers on the Disney campus are expected to undergo daily COVID-19 testing, or something close to it. Additionally, the NBA has sent out a 113-page letter detailing the health and safety measures being taken. Those protocols are too extensive to list here, but some of them are as follows:
- The plan is to have a maximum of 1,600 people on the campus at a given time. Traveling parties are limited to 37 people per team.
- The NBA will technically allow individuals to leave the campus and return, but is stressing that players shouldn’t do so. Any player that does leave and return is expected to have to quarantine for 10 days.
- Players won’t be permitted to bring guests (likely family members) to the campus until after the first round of the playoffs and are expected to be limited to three guests apiece. More details on the restrictions facing guests can be found here.
- The NBA is establishing an anonymous hotline that will allow individuals on the Orlando campus to report those who are violating social-distancing and safety guidelines. If a player is found to be violating those guidelines, he could be subject to a warning, fine, suspension, and/or even removal from the campus.
What happens if a player tests positive for COVID-19?
A single positive test won’t shut down the season, as it did in March when Rudy Gobert contracted the coronavirus. The expectation is that a player who tests positive will be required to self-quarantine for at least 10-to-14 days, with his teammates being frequently tested as they continue to play.
What if a player doesn’t want to participate due to safety concerns?
A player who chooses not to report to Orlando won’t face a fine or suspension. However, he also won’t be paid for the games he misses, and will forfeit 1/92.6th of his salary for those games. His team has the option of signing a “substitute player” to replace him. So far, a handful of players have voluntarily opted out, including Lakers guard Avery Bradley, Wizards forward Davis Bertans, and Trail Blazers forward Trevor Ariza.
How late will the season run?
If the NBA Finals go a full seven games, the last game will happen no later than October 13.
When will next season start?
The NBA is tentatively targeting November 10 for the start of next season’s training camps, with December 1 representing the target date for opening night of the regular season. In other words, a team that plays in the Finals may have to report to training camp less than a month later.
That timeline is not yet set in stone. Given how much of its revenues are tied to ticket sales and in-arena purchases, the NBA will prioritize getting fans back into arenas next season, so if the league has to wait a little longer to ensure that happens, it will likely do so.
Additionally, the NBPA – whose members may not love the idea of such a short offseason – will have to approve those proposed dates, and the union reportedly views a December 1 tip-off date for 2020/21 as unlikely.
Will the NBA play a full season in 2020/21? Will that schedule change be permanent?
That’s TBD. Everything we’ve heard suggests the NBA is still prioritizing playing a full 82-game schedule next season, in part to attempt to recoup some of this season’s lost revenues. The idea of starting the regular season in December and having it run into June (with the playoffs ending in August) has been popular in some NBA circles, but the league hasn’t committed to changing its calendar on a permanent basis.
One report has indicated the league would like to hold the 2021 Finals in mid-July, in part to allow players to participate in the Tokyo Olympics, which are scheduled to begin on July 23, 2021.
When will this year’s draft and free agency period occur?
The 2020 draft has been rescheduled for October 16. Free agency is expected to open just two days later, on October 18. It’s shaping up to be an extremely hectic week for the NBA, especially if the Finals go a full seven games and end on October 13.
Player option decision dates, salary guarantee dates, trade exception expiry dates, and various other deadlines will be pushed back as well to coincide with the new calendar. For instance, a trade exception that would previously have expired on July 6 will now expire on October 23.
How will the draft lottery odds be determined?
The draft lottery – rescheduled for August 20 – will be made up of the eight teams not involved in the league’s restart and the six teams that don’t make the postseason. Those teams’ lottery seeds and odds will be based on their records through March 11, according to the NBA.
Those seeds and odds can be found here, but will be subject to change if a current playoff team loses its No. 8 seed to a current lottery team. For instance, if if the Wizards were to beat the Magic in a play-in tournament, the Suns, Spurs, Kings, Pelicans, and Trail Blazers would all move up a spot in the lottery standings, Orlando would get the 14th spot in those lottery standings, and the Wizards would draft 15th overall.
The rest of the draft order will be based on the 16 playoff teams’ combined records across regular season games and “seeding games.” For instance, the Heat (41-24) are currently projected to draft 23rd, but if they go 1-7 when play resumes, they’ll likely move up in the draft.
How will players’ salaries and next season’s salary cap be impacted by the NBA’s plan?
That remains unclear. By playing 88 more regular season games, the NBA will ensure that many of its teams surpass the 70-game threshold and fulfill regional TV contracts, which is good news for the league’s financial situation.
Players – who are currently having 25% of their pay checks withheld – will still be required to forfeit a portion of their 2019/20 salaries as a result of the 171 regular season games that will end up being canceled. But there’s a belief they’ll begin receiving their full pay checks at some point this summer.
As for how the 2020/21 salary cap will be affected, that will require some negotiation between the NBA and NBPA and will hinge in part on how significantly the league expects next season’s revenues to be impacted by the pandemic. There’s a belief that neither the league nor the union will want the cap to drop off substantially this offseason, so artificially smoothing it could be the most logical solution.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NBA Expected To Approve 22-Team Return-To-Play Format
11:25am: The NBA’s Board of Governors is expected to approve Silver’s plan on Thursday, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
10:00am: When he meets with the NBA’s Board of Governors on Thursday, commissioner Adam Silver intends to propose a return-to-play plan that will see 22 teams resume their seasons, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The NBA reportedly discussed proposals involving 16, 20, 22, or 30 teams last week, with that 22-team format gaining increased support. Although the ownership groups from teams like the Hawks and Bulls expressed a desire to participate, per Charania, the plan will exclude them and the rest of the NBA’s bottom-eight teams in order to limit – to some extent – the number of people the league will have to bring into its “bubble” in Orlando.
As Charania details, the 22-team format would bring back the 16 current playoff teams, along with six additional clubs who are within six games of a postseason spot (the Trail Blazers, Pelicans, Kings, Spurs, Suns, and Wizards).
The plan would see those 22 clubs play eight regular season games apiece, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), before a play-in tournament is held for the eighth seed. The play-in format would be as follows, per Charania:
- If the No. 9 seed is more than four games behind the No. 8 seed, the No. 8 seed would automatically earn the playoff spot.
- If the No. 9 seed is within four games of the No. 8 seed, those two teams would enter a play-in tournament for the final playoff spot in the conference. Such a tournament would be double-elimination for the No. 8 seed and single-elimination for the No. 9 seed (ie. a best-of-three series, with the No. 8 seed given a 1-0 lead to start).
Currently, the Grizzlies hold a 3.5-game lead on Portland, New Orleans, and Sacramento in the West, with San Antonio four games back, and Phoenix six games back. In the East, the Magic have a 5.5-game lead on the Wizards, so Washington would need to make up some ground to force a play-in tournament.
Besides giving those six current lottery teams a chance to make the postseason, the format will allow all 22 clubs to surpass 70 regular season games, ensuring that many of them meet the requirements for regional TV contracts, which will help out the league financially.
According to Charania, July 31 remains the target date for the resumption of the 2019/20 season, with the draft lottery and combine – which had been postponed indefinitely – now expected to take place in August. Presumably, those events would take different forms than they normally do, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. It’s not clear yet how the 2020 lottery odds may be affected by the play-in tournament format.
[RELATED: Proposed NBA Plan Would Complete Finals By October 12]
The NBA’s proposal for the resumption of the season is also expected to include many medical and safety protocols, Charania notes. Sources tell The Athletic that those protocols will likely include players showering at their hotels rather than in the arena, inactive players sitting in the stands instead of on the bench, and players not being permitted to bring guests into the “bubble” until the postseason begins.
Any proposal from the NBA will require approval from at least three-quarters of the league’s Board of Governors (ie. 23 of 30 team owners). However, even if the plan isn’t every club’s first choice, there’s an expectation that team owners will get behind Silver and vote in favor of his proposal.
The Board of Governors’ Thursday call is scheduled for 12:30pm eastern time, tweets Wojnarowski.
Proposed NBA Plan Would Complete Finals By October 12
Last week, we heard that the NBA was tentatively circling July 31 on its calendar as a target date for the resumption of the 2019/20 season. Today, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski provides another important detail on the NBA’s proposed timeline, tweeting that the league is eyeing October 12 as the last possible date for Game 7 of the 2020 Finals.
Wojnarowski notes in a follow-up tweet that the league is still working through details on its return-to-play plan with the NBPA. As such, it’s not clear whether that October 12 date is part of the tentative proposal for now, or if it’s just the latest possible Game 7 date that has been discussed, out of a handful of possibilities.
The NBA intends to bring a proposal to its Board of Governors on Thursday for a vote, so the details of the plan will likely need to be finalized soon.
During the first month or two following the suspension of the season, reports suggested that the NBA preferred not to have the 2019/20 season run beyond Labor Day. The new timeline reflects the league’s changing stance on that issue.
The NBA has seemingly become more willing to start the 2020/21 season much later than usual in the hopes that by the time opening night arrives, fans will be allowed back in arenas. Given how much revenue is generated from ticket sales and in-arena purchases, the league likely won’t be in any rush to begin next season until states have lifted bans on large gatherings, at least to some extent.
If the season runs into early October, 2020’s draft and free agency period likely wouldn’t take place until mid-to-late October at the earliest. It also seems unlikely that the ’20/21 campaign will tip off before Christmas.
Latest On NBA’s Return-To-Play Plans
The NBA and Walt Disney World appear to be leaning torward Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort as the primary host for teams and players if and when the season is resumed, per Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
According to Smith (Twitter link), other resorts at Disney are still being considered, and it’s possible that the NBA ends up using multiple resorts. However, Coronado Springs – which features over 2,000 hotel rooms – is believed to offer “the best package of rooms, resources, and proximity to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.”
Here’s more on the NBA’s potential return to play:
- Brooks Barnes of The New York Times provides a primer on Walt Disney World’s sports complex, examining how the NBA zeroed in on Disney as a potential host, outlining the benefits of playing games there, and exploring how basketball could coincide soccer if the MLS strikes a deal to play there as well.
- In an interesting article for The Athletic, former NBA team executives Seth Partnow and John Hollinger express some of their reservations about the NBA’s return-to-play plan, ranging from concerns about safety to questions about a 22-team format.
- As Ben Golliver of The Washington Post details, the NBA appears ready to move forward this week with a plan to resume the season, after months of assessing the best way to keep players, coaches, and staffers healthy and safe. Now, amidst the nationwide protests over George Floyd’s death, commissioner Adam Silver “must plunge forward in a climate where many of those same people are voicing outrage and anxiety about their safety and place in society,” Golliver writes.
Coronavirus Notes: Playoff Format, Paychecks, Paul
A play-in tournament could result in nine Western Conference teams participating in a 16-team playoff, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post. A 22-team format appears to be the most popular plan for the resumption of play. According to Berman, the six extra teams may compete with the two current No. 8 seeds from each conference in an eight-team, single-elimination tournament. Washington would be the only Eastern Conference team among that group of six extra teams.
We have more COVID-19 related news:
- NBA players received on Monday — the first day of the month — reduced paychecks for the second time since the suspension of play, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. NBA players accepted a 25% reduction on their paychecks beginning on May 15. Starting on June 15, the 25% reduction will likely either decrease or increase based on how many regular-season games the league attempts to play, Marks adds.
- Players Association president Chris Paul speaks regularly with Adam Silver, which has built trust between the league’s stars and the commissioner, as Royce Young of ESPN details. Paul has talked more than once a week with Silver during the pandemic, serving as the liaison between the players and the commissioner. “I just look at it as guys are actually concerned and they want to know what’s going on,” Paul said. “They should have a say in their future.”
- Some executives have raised concerns about not allowing all teams to participate in a restart of the season. Get the details here.
Warriors Reopen Practice Facility
As the City of San Francisco entered the next phase of its coronavirus reopening plan on Monday, the Warriors moved forward with the opening of their practice facility for voluntary individual workouts, reports Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The Warriors will adhere to the NBA’s health and safety protocols as they get players back into the practice facility, conducting temperature checks on anyone who enters the building and ensuring that no more than four players are on the premises at a time. According to Slater, about five players showed up for workouts on Monday as the facility reopened.
As Slater explains (via Twitter), the Warriors still aren’t expecting to be part of the NBA’s plan for resuming the 2019/20 season this summer. Still, the team and its players want to stay active and begin summer training programs. Holding practices and scrimmages could also benefit the young squad if and when the league eventually allows group activities.
The Bulls, Pistons, and Spurs are now the only three NBA teams that have yet to reopen their practice facilities. Chicago intends to do so this Wednesday and Detroit continues to tentatively target June 12. San Antonio’s plans remain unclear.
Hiatus Notes: Cuban, Paul, Season, EuroLeague
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is the latest NBA figure to discuss why the league should consider starting the regular season on Christmas Day, as he explained on ESPN’s The Jump with Rachel Nichols (Twitter link).
The current NBA season begins in mid-October and ends with the NBA Finals concluding in early June. The NBA draft happens shortly after that, with free agency commencing at the end of June and early July.
“I think you work backwards from next season,” Cuban said after being asked when he believes the league should release its official plans for the season. “I’ve always been a proponent of starting on Christmas Day when we go to broadcast. And so if you work backwards from there and say, ‘We want to have two months off for the draft and everything, for players to recover’, so you have all of November and all of October and we don’t have to finish (this season) until the end of September.”
If the league chooses to work backwards from next season and finish this campaign in September, the 2020/21 season likely won’t start until December. This could open a pathway toward a brand new schedule, so long as the league can overcome some of the various obstacles it will likely encounter.
Cuban also gave his opinion on whether we’ll see a traditional 16-team playoff format this year, which includes eight teams from the East and West.
“I don’t think it’ll be regular,” he said of this year’s format. “This is our chance to experiment and learn. Unique circumstances, unique opportunities. So I’m confident we’ll take advantage of it and do something differently. I just think that’s smart from a business perspective and I think the players want that too.”
Here are a few more items related to the NBA’s hiatus:
- Royce Young of ESPN details the role Thunder guard Chris Paul has played during the coronavirus pandemic, with Paul currently serving as president of the players’ union. The NBA season has been on hiatus for roughly two-and-a-half months to date.
- Steve Popper of Newsday makes the case for why only 16 teams should play in the event the NBA season is resumed. The league is planning a Thursday vote between the Board of Governors on how and whether to restart the season, with owners expected to approve a plan, according to an ESPN report.
- Alberto De Roa of HoopsHype discussed the EuroLeague’s decision to cancel the season and more with veteran forward Bostjan Nachbar, who believes the biggest fear from EuroLeague players was related to injuries following the long layoff — not COVID-19. Nachbar plays a key role in the EuroLeague Players Association, which was recently created to represent players across the league.
Plan With 22 Teams Has Growing Support
A plan to bring 22 teams to Orlando to resume the season has received growing support, several members of the NBA’s Board of Governors told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne.
As we detailed earlier on Friday, the Board of Governors will vote on Thursday on the preferred format to return to play.
The four formats up for vote would include 16, 20, 22 or all 30 teams. The latter is the least likely to be approved, according to the ESPN report.
The 22-team format would likely include regular-season and play-in games to compete for playoff berths in both conferences.
The teams that would be invited are the ones that currently hold playoff spots and those that are currently within six games of the final playoff spots in each conference. The six-team group would include the Pelicans, Suns, Trail Blazers, Kings, Spurs and Wizards.
If the 20-team plan is approved, the Suns and Wizards would not participate. The NBA needs a three-fourths majority of owners to approve a return-to-play plan.
Players Oppose Going Straight To Postseason When Play Resumes
Appearing on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Friday (video link), Ramona Shelburne reported that NBA players she has spoken to are opposed to the idea of advancing directly to the postseason when the league resumes play.
“The one thing that they really don’t want to do is go straight to the playoffs,” Shelburne said. “They might have essentially four months off between March 11 and whenever we get the season resumed, and nobody wants the first meaningful game they play to be a playoff game. They need at least a week – maybe even longer than that – of real games that count for something before they play a playoff game.”
Some of the proposed scenarios for the NBA return would involve just bringing back the 16 playoff teams and advancing directly to the postseason; others would involve only teams at or near the bottom of the playoff picture participating in a play-in tournament. Shelburne suggests that neither of those solutions would be favorable for teams at the top of the postseason picture, who would want some time to shake off the rust and re-establish their chemistry before jumping into the playoffs.
Earlier today, we relayed Shams Charania’s report on the four scenarios the league discussed in its conference call with the Board of Governors call today. We noted in that story that bringing back all 30 teams seems unlikely. Based on Shelburne’s report, it sounds like the NBPA may not be on board with jumping directly to the playoffs with just 16 teams either.
That would leave two scenarios — a World Cup-esque play-in pool, featuring 20 teams, and a “playoffs-plus” option that may feature 22 teams. Shelburne and Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer provided a few more updates on that second option this afternoon, offering the following details:
- Teams within six games of a playoff spot would be invited to participate, per Shelburne (Twitter link). That means the Trail Blazers, Pelicans, Kings, Spurs, Suns, and Wizards would join the 16 current playoff teams.
- All 22 teams would likely play eight regular-season games apiece, then a play-in tournament would be held for the eighth seed in each conference, according to O’Connor (Twitter link).
- While the proposal isn’t yet finalized, it sounds as if conferences would remain in place for the postseason under this scenario, O’Connor adds.
The solution would check off a few boxes for the NBA. It would give every playoff team a solid ramping-up period before the postseason; it would allow many of those 22 teams to reach the 70-game threshold necessary for regional TV contracts; and it would give every team in Orlando something to play for without the league having to bring back all 30 clubs.
However, as O’Connor observes in another tweet, there are some potential downsides as well. Timing could be an issue if the NBA is aiming to resume play on July 31 and requires two or three weeks of regular season games before beginning the playoffs.
Plus, the particulars of the play-in tournament are unclear — for instance, the Magic are currently 5.5 games up on the Wizards and could increase that gap with eight more regular season games to play. Would Washington still be given a chance to steal the eighth seed in that scenario?
There’s no indication yet that the NBA is leaning toward that 22-team concept, and even if the league goes in that direction, it’s possible some details would be tweaked, so we’ll have to wait for further updates on talks between the league, teams, and players. There’s hope that a vote will happen next week.
Wizards Reopen Practice Facility
The Wizards have reopened their practice facility for voluntary workouts, the team announced today in a press release. Friday, the first day of D.C. “phase one” for reopening, was also the first day that players were allowed back at the MedStar Wizards Performance Center for individual on-court work.
According to the Wizards’ announcement, the building will remain closed to the general staffs of the Wizards, the WNBA’s Mystics, and the G League’s Capital City Go-Go until local guidelines allow for reopening. However, players are permitted to work out while following strict protocols provided by the league, including no more than four players being in the building at a time.
The Warriors, Spurs, and Pistons are now the only three teams that haven’t reopened their facilities or officially announced plans to do so next week. Golden State has long targeted the week of June 1 to get back into its building, however — we’ll see if San Antonio and Detroit follow suit.