Although the NBA’s return is imminent, it could only be with 22 teams.
According to ESPN and The Athletic, the NBA’s Board of Governors is expected to approve a league plan that would resume the season in Orlando utilizing a 22-team format.
Three-fourths of the 30 teams must also ratify the proposal. That decision is planned to be made Thursday at 12:30 p.m., according to ESPN.
The new plan would see 13 Western Conference teams and 9 Eastern Conference teams play 8 regular-season matches, before starting the playoffs, which ended in early June in past seasons.
The top eight teams in both conferences will be a part of the 22 teams that are playing. The remaining six teams will be those within six games of the eighth place: Portland Trailblazers, New Orleans Pelicans, San Antonio Spurs, Sacramento Kings, Washington Wizards, and Phoenix Suns, according to ESPN sources.
The resumption would start on July 31 and if there’s an NBA Finals Game 7, it would be planned for October 12, ESPN reported.
However, the NBA did not have a comment when asked about the reports.
The NBA suspended its season after a player of the Utah Jazz tested positive for the novel coronavirus on March 11. The novel coronavirus pandemic forced a lot of US sports organizations to consider adjustments, including holding games without fans and canceling events.
Under this new plan, teams will be moving to train in Orlando by the end of July. Players will be tested for novel coronavirus every day, and if someone tests positive, they will be individually removed and treated.
According to NBA spokesman Mike Bass, all this comes amidst reports that the season could restart at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, in Florida, as a single campus for matches, practices and housing.
Some families, especially for teams expecting to make deep runs into the playoffs, might also be allowed in the bubble since the arrangement has been called.