Marc J. Spears: NBA season restart scrimmage schedule pic.twitter.com/Zh1obAuOs0
Schedule Rumors
ShowtimeForum: The Lakers will open their scrimmage game vs Dallas on the 23rd! 🔥💪 @Shams Charania | #Lakeshow pic.twitter.com/jNYHGGCBxs
Keith Pompey: The #Sixers will scrimmage the #MemphisGrizzlies on July 24, #OKCThunder on July 26 and #DallasMavs on July 28 during training camp in Orlando for the #NBA restart, according to a league source.
Eric Walden: Looks like the Jazz are slated to scrimmage against Phoenix on July 23, against Miami on July 25, and against Brooklyn on July 27. pic.twitter.com/SP1ABvbPen
Michael Singer: #Nuggets will play Washington on July 22nd, New Orleans on July 25th, and Orlando on July 27th in the team’s three scrimmages before the season’s re-start.
Mark Medina: David Griffin on what he thinks of the NBA having a permanent December start: “We would certainly support that as a franchise.” Mentioned how it’s hard for the Pelicans to compete with the Saints for attention
JD Shaw: The complete game and national television schedules for the eight seeding games will be announced tonight, the NBA says in a press release.
Ira Winderman: The NBA schedule will be released at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
Shams Charania: Sources: Travel dates for 22 NBA teams to Orlando: – July 7: Nets, Nuggets, Magic, Suns, Jazz, Wizards – July 8: Celtics, Mavericks, Clippers, Grizzlies, Heat, Pelicans, Thunder, Kings – July 9: Rockets, Pacers, Lakers, Bucks, 76ers, Trail Blazers, Spurs, Raptors
Tim Reynolds: The Raptors are tentatively scheduled to arrive in southwest Florida this afternoon. I say tentative because at this point, I think everything needs to be called tentative until at least an hour after it happens.
Potential early-entry candidates for the 2020 NBA draft will have until Aug. 17 to declare that they are entering the draft, according to a memo obtained by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Saturday. The new deadline is pending the NBA finalizing an agreement with the players’ union on system rule changes in the collective bargaining agreement related to the resumption of the 2019-20 season. The NBA’s early-entry deadline had been April 26, in anticipation of a June 25 draft, but according to the CBA, players have the ability to make themselves draft eligible by petioning the league in writing “at least sixty (60) days prior.” Pending approval from the National Basketball Players Association, that would shift the early-entry deadline to Aug. 17 given the draft has been postponed to Oct. 16.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Source: Free agency opens on October 18 still, with moratorium period on deals October 19-23. Free agency negotiations will start at 6 PM on October 18, per sources. (Not a minute sooner, or that would be tampering, of course).
Adrian Wojnarowski: Source: Free agency opens on October 18 still, with moratorium period on deals October 19-23.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Source: Early entry withdrawl date: October 6 — 10 days prior to draft.
NBA Draft set for October 16
Adrian Wojnarowski: Source: NBA Draft will be on October 16, with early entry deadline on August 17.
Shams Charania: The NBA has set the transaction window for its 30 teams: June 23 (12 pm ET) to June 30 (11:59 pm ET), sources tell @The Athletic @Stadium.
Shams Charania: Sources: NBA’s expected restart dates: – July 30-Aug. 14: Seeding games – Aug.15-16: Play-in tournaments – Aug. 17: Playoffs begin – Aug. 30: Family/guests of teams arrive – Aug. 31-Sept. 13: Conf. Semifinals – Sept. 15-Sept. 28: Conf. Finals – Sept. 30-Oct. 13: NBA Finals
Adrian Wojnarowski: NBA has instructed teams of full training camp timeline, including July 9-29 in Orlando with three intersquad scrimmages, sources tell ESPN. Again, season re-starts on July 30.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Players traveling outside of the U.S. need to report by June 15 to team markets — rest of players need to arrive by June 22, per sources.
Shams Charania: Health and safety: The NBA’s required coronavirus testing window for teams: June 23-30, sources tell @The Athletic @Stadium.
At this point, however, nothing has been agreed to. For the league to start the season on Dec. 1, it would need to be signed off on by the NBPA, which hasn’t happened yet, sources said. Both sides remain focused on the myriad issues left to be resolved before the league can begin play at Walt Disney World next month. The idea of shifting the NBA calendar from its current, long-standing schedule of beginning the regular season in October and ending its playoffs in June to going from December until August — and, by extension, avoiding conflicting with the NFL as much as possible — has been something that Hawks CEO Steve Koonin has publicly pushed for, including on a panel at February’s Sloan Analytics Conference that was moderated by ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz.
NBA could compress 2020-21 season
Tim Bontemps: Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk said on a conference call with reporters this morning that the NBA has indicated to the league’s GMs that next year’s schedule could be condensed in order to try to keep the league as close to its usual timeline as possible.
Erik Horne: Presti on who the Thunder will play in Orlando: “I don’t have hard information on what it is. I do think it will look something like the schedule we had remaining, but you have other factors (teams needing to play additional games).”
There will be up to seven games per day played over roughly three weeks during the August regular season, which the NBA has branded “seeding games,” and it is likely there will be weekday afternoon playoff games during the the first round. Sources say the league will use three different facilities at first to stage games — The Arena, HP Field House and Visa Athletic Center, all at the Wide World of Sports Complex. As things progress, it will be reduced to two sites and then one.
Harrison Wind: So if the season does resume on July 31, there will have been 142 days in between games. There were 112 days in between Game 6 of the 2020 Finals and the first preseason game of the 2019-20 season.
2020-21 NBA season to start on Dec. 1?
Shams Charania: Sources: The NBA informed the Board of Governors of scheduled dates: – Training camp: June 30, July 7 travel to Orlando – 2019-20 season: July 31 – Free agency: Oct. 18 – 2020-21 targets: Nov. 10 training camp, Dec. 1 opening night (can remain fluid)
Vincent Goodwill: The plan is for teams to continue their schedule as planned, with the next 8 games. If team is scheduled to play Hawks/Bulls/Pistons, it moves onto the next game on schedule, league sources tell Yahoo Sports
Jeff Zillgitt: A couple of details on play-in game proposal for NBA playoffs, I’m hearing: Will involve eighth and ninth seeds, as long as ninth seed is within four games of eighth seed. It will be single elimination for ninth seed and double elimination for eighth seed.
The NBA considered restarting the season using a 20-team, group-play format, which could’ve given sub-.500 teams the same chance to advance to the second round as the Nuggets. The team was strongly opposed to such a format, according to multiple league sources, believing that it undermined their success throughout the regular season. All 30 teams were polled in an anonymous GM survey about a potential return-to-play, and the Nuggets voted to go directly to the playoffs, according to two league sources.
Tim Reynolds: NBA player on what he’s been told to expect when his team gets to the Disney/ESPN complex: “Lots of testing and lots of rules.”
NBA to approve plan for 22-team return
The NBA’s Board of Governors has a 12:30 p.m. ET call on Thursday with the intention of approving the league’s plan for a 22-team return in Orlando, sources told ESPN on Wednesday. Each of the 22 teams will play eight regular-season games in Orlando for seeding purposes for the playoffs, sources told ESPN.
Adrian Wojnarowski: So 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 tomorrow to ratify. The NBA’s back.
Jeff Zillgitt: I’m also hearing about a 2 1/2 week training camp for the 22 NBA teams leading up to the completion of the regular season and play-in games. For regular season and beginning of playoffs, think NCAA Tournament-style action — multiple games a day at one site.
Marc J. Spears: Via new rules, the NBA teams with the three worst 2019-2020 regular-season records will each have a 14 percent chance of winning the lottery. Golden State, Cleveland and Minnesota have the three worst records with Atlanta, Detroit and New York behind by a hair in the standings.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Each of the 22 teams will play eight regular season games in Orlando for seeding purposes for the playoffs, sources tell ESPN.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Sources: Joining the 16 current playoff teams in Orlando: New Orleans, Portland, Phoenix, Sacramento and San Antonio in the West and Washington in the East. If the 9th seed is more than 4 games behind the 8th, No. 8 makes playoffs; Fewer than 4 games, a play-in tournament.
Adam Silver planning to propose 22-team format to resume season
The NBA is planning to propose a 22-team return to the 2019-20 season in a Board of Governors meeting on Thursday, sources told The Athletic, with the draft lottery and combine expected to be in August. The NBA’s proposal will be based on feedback, collaborative discussions and input from constituents around the league. The NBA’s 22-team format at Orlando’s Disney World would bring the 16 teams currently in a playoff spot, six additional teams, and include a play-in tournament for the eighth seed, sources said. The play-in tournament would work as follows, according to sources: If the ninth seed is more than four games behind the eighth seed, the eighth seed earns the playoff spot; if the ninth seed is four or fewer games behind, then the eighth and ninth seed will enter a play-in tournament that is double-elimination for the eighth seed and single-elimination for ninth. ESPN first reported the league was working on 22-team models.
Adam Silver informed the Board of Governors on Friday that the league is targeting a July 31 resumption of the season, sources said. The NBA discussed four different competition scenarios with owners: 16 teams advancing directly to the playoffs; 20 teams with stage, Olympic-group style play; 22 teams with games for seeding and a play-in tournament; or 30 teams with 72 regular-season games and a play-in tourney.
Hornets owner Michael Jordan was outspoken on Friday’s call, advocating for player safety and not having players have to return for meaningless games following a four-plus month hiatus, sources said. The Hawks and Bulls ownership groups said on the call that they wanted to return, sources said, but several players and staffers throughout both organizations prefer not to.
Near the end of the NBA’s Board of Governors call on Friday, Oklahoma City Thunder owner Clay Bennett delivered an impassioned soliloquy on why the league and owners needed to consider the competitive and financial plights of smaller market teams that could be left out of the season’s summer resumption in Orlando — and the potential symbolic power of all 30 teams gathering there to play as one united association. As the NBA moves toward a plan of inviting 22 teams re-start a truncated season in late July, sources told ESPN, Bennett spoke of exhausting ways to accommodate non-playoff teams still wanting to play. He wondered: was there a way to safely bring all 30 teams?
For those teams left out of the playoffs, there has already been dialogue on the possibility of mandatory summer training camps and regional fall leagues of four-to-five teams that could bridge the lengthy gap between seasons, sources told ESPN. Those are ideas many teams consider vital, and there’s an expectation that the NBA will raise possible scenarios such as these with the Players Association, sources said. “The message was something bigger, reminding people that some teams can’t just re-open the doors in nine of 10 months and so easily sell tickets or a sponsorship without having played basketball for that long,” one high-level Eastern Conference official on the call told ESPN.
