The NBA has recently announced the format and schedule for the 2020-21 season, which will include a Play-In Tournament to define the teams that will become the 7th and 8th playoff seeds in each conference.
The NBA’s 75th regular season, featuring 72 games for each team, will start on Tuesday, December 22nd. The description of the opponent breakdown for the season is below:
• Each team will play 3 games against each intra conference opponent, each match including one home game and two street games or two home games and one street game. Within the division of each team, the NBA office has assigned randomly which two opponents will be played twice on the road and which two opponents will be played twice at home.
• All 5 teams from within a division will play against all 5 teams from the other intra conference division twice at home, and all 5 teams from the remaining intra conference division twice on the road.
• Each team will play against each inter conference opponent two games, with each pairing including one home game and one road game.
• The 2020-21 season schedule will be released in two segments. The First Half of the season’s schedule will be announced around the beginning of training camp. The Second Half of the season’s schedule will be announced during the latter part of the First Half schedule. The Second Half schedule will feature the rest of each team’s 72 games that are not scheduled in the First Half and any games suspended during the First Half that can be added to the Second Half schedule.
The All-Star break is scheduled to be held on Mar. 5-10 of next year, between the First Half and the Second Half of the regular season.
Here is the tentative schedule for the 2020-21 season:
• December 11-19, 2020: The Preseason games
• December 22, 2020 – March 4, 2021: The First Half of regular season
• March 5-10, 2021: The All-Star break
• March 11 – May 16, 2021: The Second Half of regular season
• May 18-21, 2021: The Play-In Tournament
• May 22 – July 22, 2021: The 2021 NBA Playoffs.