Everything you need to know about the NBA restart
By Philip Jurkovsky
It seems like an eternity ago since we were blessed with a live game of NBA.
On March 12, it was reported Utah Jazz Center Rudy Gobert was infected with the Coronavirus and the season was placed into immediate shutdown. Since then, we have been forced to watch reruns of old games and binge The Last Dance countlessly, just to experience some form of basketball fix.
But no more! The season is under 2 weeks away from restarting and here is everything you should know before the opening tip off.
LOCATION
Teams flew into Orlando, Florida on July 7 to begin quarantine at Walt Disney World’s ESPN Wide World of Sports complex.
The NBA is using three different venues on the ESPN Wide World of Sports campus: The HP Field House, Visa Athletic Center and the ESPN Wide World of Sports Arena.
COMPETING TEAMS
The following teams have been invited to resume the season in Orlando:
Western Conference
Los Angeles Lakers
Los Angeles Clippers
Denver Nuggets
Utah Jazz
Oklahoma City Thunder
Houston Rockets
Dallas Mavericks
Memphis Grizzlies
Portland Trail Blazers
New Orleans Pelicans
Sacramento Kings
San Antonio Spurs
Phoenix Suns
Eastern Conference
Milwaukee Bucks
Toronto Raptors
Boston Celtics
Miami Heat
Indiana Pacers
Philadelphia 76ers
Brooklyn Nets
Orlando Magic
Washington Wizards
RETURN DATES
The season will begin on Thursday July 30 in the states, and Friday July 31st for Australian fans.
The Utah Jazz will take on the New Orleans Pelicans in the curtain raiser at 8:30AM AEST.
Then the much anticipated LA derby will immediately follow at 11:00AM, however this game won’t be played in front of a sold out Staples Center, but instead at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Arena at Disney World.
SCHEDULE
The full NBA schedule can be found here.
Here is a general overview of the planned NBA return schedule.
- 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: Conference semifinals
- Sept. 15-Sept. 28: Conference finals
- Sept. 30-Oct. 13: NBA Finals
Regular seeding will consist of 8 games to be played by each team, with the matchups to be based on the regular season games that were originally scheduled to be played before the lockdown occurred.
PLAY-IN TOURNAMENT
After the seeding games have commenced, the playoffs will proceed in a traditional conference-based format featuring the usual best-of-seven series in the first round, conference semifinals, conference finals and The Finals.
However, the road to the playoffs will be a little different this season. The NBA has introduced a play-in tournament for teams vying for the eighth seed in their respective conference.
According to NBA.com, “If the team with the eighth-best record in its conference is more than four games ahead of the team with the ninth-best record in the same conference, no play-in tournament would be necessary. The final playoff berth would simply go to the team with the eighth-best record.
However, “if the team with the eighth-best record in its conference is four games or fewer ahead of the team with the ninth-best record in the same conference, then we’ll have a battle for the final spot between those two teams.
“The tournament [would] basically be a best-of-two series — where the №9 seed would have to win two head-to-head matchups to take over the №8 spot.”
FANS/CROWD
There will be no live audience or tickets available for the remaining 2019–20 season restart games through to the NBA Finals due to COVID-19 health protocols.
However, it has been reported that players inside the bubble will be allowed to attend and watch games courtside.
Fans who will be on TV and live streams at home have pleaded for the NBA to mic-up players during games to add further excitement to what will be a crowd-less atmosphere.
However, Adam Silver explained in a TIME100 interview with Sean Gregory, bad language is a real concern as the NBA resumes its season at Disney.
“I think often players, they understand when they’re on the floor, they’re saying certain things to each other because it’s so loud in the arena, they know a lot of it is not being picked up. They may have to adapt their language a little bit knowing what they say will likely be picked up by microphones and in all seriousness, we may need to put a little bit of a delay.” — Adam Silver.
COVID TESTING
The league and the National Basketball Players Associtation have put a strict set of protocols in place for testing and safety practices.
Anyone entering the Orlando “bubble” is required to quarantine for up to 48 hours until they register two negative COVID-19 tests. Any players who leave the bubble environment would undergo quarantine of up to 10 days upon their return to Disney, and will need to register two negative tests as well as an antibody test before returning to play.
Everyone in the bubble is tested each night, with the results coming the following morning.
Any player who tests positive will be required to quarantine for a minimum of seven days. Any player who contracts the coronavirus or gets injured can be replaced, but the replaced player will not be eligible to return to the Orlando bubble.
