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The NBA announced the full seven-day exhibition schedule that will take place at the Disney World complex in Orlando, Florida, before the resumption of the 2019-20 season amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic provided the full list:
Shams Charania @ @ShamsCharania
The NBA scrimmage game schedule, featuring Clippers, Nuggets, Heat and Pelicans, will all play on July 22: https://t.co/znph78RAWW
Each team will play three practice games before restarting the regular season, which will feature a shorter eight-game finale before possible game tournaments for the final seeds and a standard postseason.
The NBA has continued to move forward with its plans to resume, and eventually complete, the 2019-20 season despite a recent increase of COVID-19 cases in Florida.
Several players have excluded of the restart, and in June, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said he understands that the “bubble” environment in Orlando “may not be for everyone”:
NBA on ESPN @ @ESPNNBA
“It will involve a huge sacrifice on behalf of those players and for all involved …” —Adam Silver on the challenges of regaining the NBA https://t.co/bc3YPi6GEN
Along with health issues, players have raised the issue of the Black Lives Matter movement that is likely to be lost in the background after play resumes.
“Once we start playing basketball again, the news will go from systemic racism to who did what in the game last night. It is a crucial time for us to play and combine that and impact what is happening in our communities,” said one anonymous. . player told ESPN Adrian Wojnarowski. “We ask ourselves, ‘Where and how can we have the greatest impact?’ Mental health is also part of the discussion and how we handle all of that in a bubble. “
The regular season will begin on July 30, two days after the end of the exhibition games, and will run until mid-August. The playoffs are scheduled to start on August 17, with the last possible Finals date being October 13.
For now, the 2020-21 season is tentatively scheduled to start on December 1.
The Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers are the championship’s main contenders at the restart of play.
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