The NBA is hoping to start the 2020-2021 season just before Christmas. According to a report by Shams Charania of The Athletic, the league informed the Board of Governors that it wants to play a 72-game season that would begin on December 22.
The league was considering starting the season in 2021, hoping that more teams would be allowed to have fans in the arena. As the officials realized that the coronavirus pandemic will continue to impact the upcoming season, they decided to focus on ways to ensure that the 2021-2022 season can be played as normal.
Under the plan, the NBA Finals would wrap up in July, just before the rescheduled Summer Olympics in Tokyo. That would allow some players to participate in the Olympics. It would also enable the league to start in October and play a full 82-game season in 2021-2022.
The start date would need to be agreed to by the National Basketball Players Association. The players and the owners are currently discussing plans to get the new season underway and have met multiple times since the NBA Finals ended. According to ESPN, those talks have "been productive on making the necessary financial allowances on 2020-21 salary-cap and luxury-tax thresholds to account for the massive losses in revenues from the pandemic."
The NBA is also in favor of keeping the play-in tournament used to determine the playoff seedings for the Orlando bubble.
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