There will be a remix and an ending to an NBA season that was cut short on March 11 because of the coronavirus pandemic according to ESPN’s basketball insider Adrian Wojnarowski.
Source: 29-1 vote https://t.co/NT87g6EENp
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 4, 2020
The NBA held a conference call and conducted an official vote today.
According to ESPN, “Commissioner Adam Silver and the league’s advisory/finance committee have shared the broad details of a plan with teams to play at the Walt Disney World Resort, sources said. The plan includes 13 Western Conference teams and nine Eastern Conference teams, eight regular-season games, a possible play-in tournament for the eighth seed, and playoffs, sources said.
3 Reasons Why The NBA Format Works
Fewer Games More Meaningful Comp
8 regular-season games aren’t a lot, but the fans will take just about anything right now and the playoffs should be very exciting. To try and play more games would cause more complications and strain on the players who only have a few short weeks to get back in shape after a three-month layoff, where they didn’t have access too many training facilities because of the quarantine lockdown.
Those 8 regular-season games will probably be some of the most intense NBA games you’ve ever seen.
Limiting COVID-19 Spread
The more games that players participate in and the more people they come in contact with, heightens their risk to contract COVID-19, which is still rising in many states. A short, but high stakes exciting return limits the risk. In and out.
Teams will train at their own sites starting in July and the NBA will move the entire operation to Orlando (existing in a bubble community) later that month.
Exciting and Unique Playoff Format
The top 16 teams in the Eastern and Western conferences will be joined by teams currently within six games of eighth place in the two conferences — New Orleans, Portland, San Antonio, Sacramento, Phoenix, and Washington, sources said. So players such as Zion Williamson will get a chance to compete for a playoff spot, possibly a championship and continue to build their new NBA brands.
The play-in tournament will include the No. 8 and No. 9 teams — if the ninth seed finishes the regular season within four games of the eighth, sources said. In that case, the No. 8 seed enters a double-elimination tournament and the No. 9 seed a single-elimination tournament, sources said.
This is unique to anything the NBA has ever done and it definitely is designed to inspire more potential upsets.
Safety Protocols
There are strict safety protocols in place for the players and employees of teams and arenas, which will limit the potential spread of the virus.
ESPN says, “Life in the NBA bubble will be governed by a set of safety protocols. While players and coaches will be allowed to golf or eat at outdoor restaurants, they will also need to maintain social distancing, sources told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne.
The NBA is planning to have a uniform, daily testing for the coronavirus within the Disney campus environment, sources told ESPN. ESPN is owned by The Walt Disney Company.
If a player tests positive for COVID-19, they will be removed from the team and quarantined until healthy.
