As expected, the NBA on Thursday validated its recovery plan after several months of interruption due to the health crisis. The regular season will end at DisneyWorld from the end of July, with an original 22-team tournament, before moving on to the playoffs.
This time, for sure: the NBA will resume. But only for 22 teams out of 30… Three months after the regular season was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, The North American Basketball League franchises voted on Thursday (29 votes to 1), according to ESPN and The Athletic, the original recovery plan outlined Wednesday.
In order to determine the top seeds for the playoffs, the regular season will end on July 31 at DisneyWorld (Orlando, Florida) with a special tournament with 22 teams. It will bring together the top 16 teams in the current standings (eight in the East, eight in the West) and six other teams: New Orleans, Portland, Phoenix, Sacramento and San Antonio, for the Western Conference, plus Washington for the Eastern Conference.
The NBA’s Board of Governors has voted to approve the league’s 22-team format to restart the 2019-2020 season in Orlando, source told ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 4, 2020
Training camps start on June 30, arrival in Orlando on July 7
Each team will play eight games in Florida, with a view to “classic” playoffs that will be held in the same venue. With a specificity for the eighth qualifying place: if there are less than four wins between the 8th and 9th at the end of these additional meetings, the two teams will have to face each other.
Training camps for the tournament will begin on June 30, and teams will join Orlando on July 7 to complete their closed-environment preparation. The playoffs will end no later than October 12, and the Draft will be held on October 15.
