The vote passed 29-1, with the Portland Trail Blazers the lone dissenting voice, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania. The team’s star point guard, Damian Lillard, said last week that he wouldn’t participate in games if Portland didn’t have a chance to make the playoffs. The team currently sits in ninth place in the Western Conference.
Per @wojespn:
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 3, 2020
🔺 The NBA's inviting 22 teams to Orlando
🔺 13 Western Conference
🔺 9 Eastern Conference
🔺 Eight regular season games per team
🔺 Play-in for the 8th seeds
🔺 July 31-October 12
🔺 Vote being held tomorrow to ratify
"The NBA's back." pic.twitter.com/6TWFwkfJYj
“The Board’s approval of the restart format is a necessary step toward resuming the NBA season,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement announcing the league’s return. “While the COVID-19 pandemic presents formidable challenges, we are hopeful of finishing the season in a safe and responsible manner based on strict protocols now being finalized with public health officials and medical experts.”
Silver addressed the current protests in the U.S. in his statement as well. “We also recognize that as we prepare to resume play, our society is reeling from recent tragedies of racial violence and injustice, and we will continue to work closely with our teams and players to use our collective resources and influence to address these issues in very real and concrete ways,” said Silver.
The NBA was the first major U.S. sports league to suspend its season for the coronavirus, after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive on March 11. Other sports leagues started postponing games the following day.
Here is what you need to know about the NBA’s return.
Games
There will be 22 teams in Orlando for games that are “tentatively” set to begin July 31. The field is based on teams within six games of the eighth seed in each conference and includes 13 Western Conference teams. (Only the Washington Wizards meet the cutoff in the Eastern Conference.) Teams are expected to hold training camps locally before descending on Orlando for a more intense training camp next month. No fans will be in attendance. July 31 would mark 142 days since the March 11 shutdown.
Those teams will play eight regular-season games to determine playoff seeding. If the ninth seed is within four games of the eighth seed in either conference, those teams will play a double-elimination tournament for the final playoff spot. Cynics will point to the league’s interest in finding a playoff spot for the New Orleans Pelicans and uber-popular rookie Zion Williamson, who are currently tied for ninth in the Western Conference.
The playoffs will unfold in their usual format, with a string of best-of-seven series. The NBA Finals will stretch into the fall, with a potential Game 7 set for October 12 at the latest and could be moved up. The Los Angeles Lakers and the Milwaukee Bucks currently lead their respective conferences and are NBA title favorites, along with the Los Angeles Clippers.
Location/Testing
Games will all take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney DIS World Resort, where the teams will be housed. Limited family members are expected to be able to join players once teams are eliminated from playoff contention, reducing the number of people on the Disney campus. Players will not be confined to their hotel rooms and will be allowed to eat at outdoor restaurants or play golf.
The current plan is for players to be tested daily. A positive test will result in a player being quarantined while his teammates are monitored. A single positive test is not expected to restrict games from continuing, but multiple positive tests for players on one team remain a question mark.
Draft/Lottery
If the season resumes at the end of July, the NBA expects the Draft Lottery, which determines the order of selections for the first 14 picks in the 2021 Draft, to take place August 25. The lottery will be composed of the 14 non-playoff teams, per usual. Lottery odds will be based on records as of March 11. The Golden State Warriors had the NBA’s worst record at that point, with only 15 wins versus 50 losses.
Draft seeding for the playoff teams would include the Orlando games. The Draft is now scheduled for October 15. Forbes contributor Adam Zagoria has a deeper dive on what the delayed draft means for college stars.
Player Salaries
The league started withholding 25% of player paychecks on May 15 to account for the agreed-upon ratio of salaries to basketball-related income, with BRI expected to be off by more than $1 billion because of reduced arena revenue. Owners had held 10% of player salaries, or roughly $380 million, in an escrow account since the start of the season—as they do every year—to account for potential shortfalls in BRI. Holding an additional 88 regular season games in Orlando will allow teams to retain the vast majority of the revenue from their respective local TV deals, as well as the national deals with ESPN and TNT.
The NBA’s final accounting will not be completed for months, but players are expected to eventually forgo anywhere from 15% to 20% of their gross salaries if the league can complete the 2020 playoffs.
2020-21 Season
An October 12 finish, instead of late June, means a delayed start to the 2020-21 season. The NBA says it will “likely begin” on December 1, but there is no word on the number of games or when the 2021 playoffs would take place.
Owners and players will need another round of negotiations to sort out financial issues for next season around the salary cap, free agency and contracts. Teams will likely face another dent to revenue and BRI if games take place without fans or at reduced capacities. So far, the league and its players have shown a strong ability to work together under Silver, who became commissioner in 2014.
Tags:
Sports