The NBA is eyeing
a 72-game 2020-21 season starting in the month of December and wrapping up in
time for players to be available for the Tokyo Olympics next year, multiple
reports suggested on Friday.
According
to AFP, The Athletic and ESPN cited unnamed sources to claim that the league had
a discussion with teams over a conference call, informing them about their
plans. Player unions would need to approve the plans by the end of October.
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Like most
sporting events in the world, the 2019-20 season had to be suspended in March due
to the coronavirus pandemic and restarted in July, with the finals series
between the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat ending on October 11.
That would
give the league just a 72-day break before the slated December 22 start for
next season and just three days before the NBA’s Christmas extravaganza, The
Athletic reported.
The new schedule
would generate more income and allow for more matches compared to a January restart,
while also ensuring a new champion is crowned in time for players to return to
their respective national teams in order to compete in the forthcoming Tokyo
Olympics, where the US will vie for a fourth consecutive gold medal.
The reports
also suggested that a play-in tournament for the final playoff spot for the two
conferences, which was introduced last season due to the pandemic, would
continue.
The NBA is
yet to agree upon any deal regarding the start of the new season, and ESPN
reported that the league was mulling a mid-January start on the Martin Luther
King Jr. holiday and scheduling more games for later, when spectators might be
able to attend games.
No player
tested positive for the coronavirus during the quarantine bubble in Orlando
following the restart last season.
USA
Basketball has been enquiring about players’ availability for the July 23 start
of the Tokyo Olympics in order to select players and prepare for the
tournament.
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The NBA
would prefer to play in home arenas rather than a bubble and is looking at
playing a team multiple times on a trip to reduce travel.
Areas that
allow spectators in arenas might have testing for fans in courtside seating and
updated air purifying systems.
In the
2011-12 season, which was shortened by a labor dispute, the NBA began a 66-game
per club campaign on December 25 and finished on June 21, a timetable that
would allow for a US team of NBA players to compete in Tokyo and set up a
2021-22 season starting in October, returning the league to its usual overall
timetable.
Talks
continue between the NBA and players union over such issues as financial
breakdowns and a salary cap for next season.
ESPN
reported October 30 would be a deadline for talks and mark eight weeks before
Christmas, NBA commissioner Adam Silver having said there would be at least
eight weeks between a union deal and the start of next season.
The NBA has
set the NBA Draft for November 18 with free agency expected to begin soon after
for the 2020-21 campaign.
