I dunno about you Lone Star Nation but I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE NBA SEASON TO GET UNDERWAY!!! It's gonna be "different" for sure but I think we NEED to get sports back! So, here's the detals for the NBA's comeback:
The NBA board of governors voted Thursday to approve a 22-team format to restart the 2019-20 season July 31 in Orlando, Florida, the league announced.
Under the plan, 13 Western Conference teams and nine Eastern Conference teams will play eight regular-season "seeding" games, a possible play-in tournament for the eighth seed and playoffs at the Walt Disney World Resort.
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.
The play-in tournament will include the No. 8 and No. 9 teams in a conference -- if the ninth seed finishes the regular season within four games of the eighth. In that case, the No. 9 seed would need to beat the No. 8 seed twice to earn the playoff berth, while the No. 8 would need one win from the two potential games.
All games, practices and housing will be played at the Walt Disney Resort.
Teams will begin training in Orlando starting July 9-11, sources said.
The preliminary expectations on the league's plans for the 22-team format in Orlando include:
·The regular season will extend 16 days, with five to six games per day.
·There will be four hours between games on each individual court to accommodate overtimes, cleanings and warm-ups. The league will be using three courts in the complex for games.
·In the eight-game regular-season format, each team is expected to play one back-to-back.
·The NBA is expected to be aggressive in moving up the dates to start playoff series when the previous round's series come to an end.
·The NBA Finals format is expected to include games every other day.
The Trail Blazers were hopeful that the full regular-season body of work would be reflected in the percentages used in the league's draft percentage odds, sources said.
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 also will need to maintain social distancing.
The NBA is planning to have uniform daily testing for the coronavirus within the Disney campus environment.
Thanks to our friends at ESPN for the details!