The NBA and NBPA officially announced their finalized plans for the resumption of the 2019-20 season, which will begin July 30 in Orlando with the participation of 22 of the 30 teams. On Friday, the league officially revealed its schedule for the rest of the season.
Regarding the structure of the calendar, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported the following notes:
- There will be a maximum of seven games per day.
- Notices range from noon ET to 9 PM ET.
- There are three total cuts. Two of them are configured for nationally televised games.
The top eight teams in each conference were selected along with six teams (five in the Western Conference, one in the Eastern Conference) that were within the six games of the eighth seed in their respected conference when the season was suspended on March 11. . teams will play eight “seed games” beginning July 30, then begin a typical playoff format that will culminate in October. If No. 9 seed in either conference ends within four games of No. 8 seed, that would trigger a game scenario in which team No. 9 would have to beat team No. 8 twice in a row to steal his place in the playoffs.
Such a game scenario would take place on August 15 and 16, with the playoffs beginning on August 17. However, before you get to that point, there are hundreds of planting games to work with. It all starts on July 30, when the New Orleans Pelicans battle the Utah Jazz and the two Los Angeles monsters face off in the fourth round of this season’s Lakers-Clippers fight.
Six games will follow on July 31, with Grizzlies vs. Blazers, Celtics vs. Bucks and Mavericks vs. Rockets, they will all appear on national television. Fortunately for basketball fans desperate to dive back into the sport, there will be no shortage of nationally televised games in Orlando, which can be found here.
Something to keep in mind about this schedule is how different it is from what you would have played on the court if the coronavirus had not suspended the season. With eight teams already finished for the season, the league had to build a new schedule that still managed to incorporate what the teams already had ahead. The result is a calendar with quite a disparity in terms of difficulty. The following teams will have the easiest path in front of them based on the opponent’s winning percentage:
|
Pelicans |
.495 |
|
76ers |
.506 |
|
Kings |
.529 |
|
Networks |
.544 |
|
Celts |
.550 |
|
Scissors |
.550 |
Others, meanwhile, will have to navigate extremely difficult schedules. These six teams have the toughest stretches of eight games in Orlando.
|
Raptors |
.638 |
|
Hot |
.636 |
|
Lakers |
.625 |
|
Nuggets |
.618 |
|
Trail Blazers |
.600 |
|
Grizzlies |
.597 |
No one said winning an NBA championship would be easy, but this season presents a completely unique set of circumstances. Winning in Orlando will be unlike anything any of these teams has accomplished before. This schedule is just the beginning.
