A Comprehensive Guide For The NBA Return To Play

ALEX MANDARINO - COUCH POTATO SPORTS

As the famous words of Lil Bow Wow & Fundisha from the classic 2002 film Like Mike finally ring true: “They’re playing basketball, we love that basketball”.

After the suspension of the NBA season on the evening of March 11th, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic left an unprecedented and pregnant limbo for the basketball world for over two and a half months, the NBA Board of Governors approved a competitive return-to-play plan of action to resume the 2019-2020 season on June 4th, 2020.

This format will include 22 of 30 teams completing their season. These include the 16 teams currently inhabiting spots 1 through 8 in each conference, and the 6 remaining teams that are within six games or fewer of the eighth seed in each respective conference. The official start date of the remaining regular season is Thursday, July 30th, with the Utah Jazz and New Orleans Pelicans kicking things off at 6:30 p.m. ET, and the west coast battle between the Los Angeles Clippers and rival Los Angeles Lakers to follow at 9:00 p.m. ET.

Although the start date is the one circled in red ink on most basketball fans calendars, there are a few other deadlines and schedules to take note of for the 22 teams continuing their season:

July 1st: Teams must set their final rosters for their return to play. (Originally, June 24th & 25th set the target for players to notify their teams if they chose not to participate).

• Important to note that teams have the ability to replace any player testing positive for COVID-19 or opting not to play after July 1st. However, once the play-in rounds and playoffs begin, any replacement player may only have 0-3 years of service under their belt.

July 1st – July 7th: In-market training camps may take place. Individual workouts will become mandatory, while team workouts are prohibited. Head coaches will be given the green light to participate.

July 7th- Teams will begin their travel to Orlando, Florida. The remainder of the 2019-2020 season will be held at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex within Disney World.

• The Toronto Raptors were the first club to fly south on June 22nd, holding pre-camp voluntary workouts at Alico Arena in Fort Myers, FL. Forty-five members of the organization travelled down, including all 17-roster players.

July 22nd – 29th – Each team will play 3 scrimmages against teams staying in the same hotel.

• A schedule of scrimmage games was released on July 4th.

These details outline the skeleton and structure of the NBA’s return-to-play protocol, but you don’t have to be an analytics guru or basketball superfan to want more details on the meat and potatoes of the renewed regular season: how will it operate?

July 30th to August 14th will hold eight “seeding games” for each of the 22 remaining teams to battle it out and configure the final playoff brackets. After final seeding is determined by combining the regular season and current seeding games, each conference’s 8th seed will automatically clinch their playoff berth if they lead the 9th seed by more than four games.

However, if the 8th and 9th seed are within 4 games or less of each other, they will play a 3-game play-in tournament, with a caveat. If the 8th seed wins just one single game, they clinch their playoff spot. The 9th seed will require two wins in a row in order to steal the final playoff berth. The official playoffs begin on August 17th.

The NBA released their end of season schedule on June 26th, which can be found here. The schedule was determined by a combination of two factors: chronological order and matchup balancing.

Chronological order was followed except in instances where 1) a team was scheduled against a non-participating team, 2) the game would exceed either teams maximum seeding games 3) the game would prevent the team from reaching maximum seeding games.

In recent weeks there have been several positive cases of the coronavirus reported amongst some players through the 4 major sports leagues and their affiliates. More so than in other leagues, some notable NBA players have vocalized their intent and desire to opt-out of the return to play format for the remainder of this season; an action that is not punishable by salary should that player be excused or protected as a result of a positive test, or confirmation from three medical experts that he is at higher risk for contracting the disease.

This leaves much to be desired, but also should spark interest in a look at the protocols in place to prevent the spread within the Disney World NBA bubble. All findings below are per The Athletic’s Shams Charania:

• A phone application called “NBA Campus” is in development, available to all players and members of the travelling party for access to food, barbers, workouts, etc.

• Players will undergo a 36-48 hour quarantine period upon entering the campus

• No fans will be in attendance or permitted to enter the venues, but virtual screens will be put up to enhance the in-game feel for TV audiences.

• Players will have the option to wear a proximity alarm, notifying said player if they spend more than 5 seconds within 6 feet of another player wearing the same alarm. (Note: it is mandatory for league and team staff to wear alarms)

• Players will only be able to leave the NBA bubble for a family emergency, but must still adhere to testing every day and isolate for 4 days upon re-entry.

Above all, daily testing for coronavirus has continued for all players across the league to ensure the safety and health of all those involved are protected. This is the new normal as it stands, and quite frankly NBA commissioner Adam Silver has not wavered in his steady mentality of a return to play with the main objective of staying safe and following guidelines. The fluidity of this situation remains a question, but whatever allows the opportunity for another 2016 “The Block” moment from King James or 2019 Kawhi Leonard buzzer-beater, is alright with me.

Sources

https://www.nba.com/video/2020/06/17/20200617-gametime-important-dates-family

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkay/2020/06/10/2020-nba-season-restart-schedule-participants-playoff-odds-news-on-basketballs-return-to-play/#273f9b6e745b

https://www.nba.com/article/2020/06/04/board-of-governors-approves-nba-return-official-release

https://stats.nba.com/schedule/

https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1279441743847526407?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1279441743847526407%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbleacherreport.com%2Farticles%2F2898838-nba-releases-full-scrimmage-schedule-for-orlando-restart-beginning-july-22