NBA Prepping To Return: Proposing To Play With 22 Teams

NBA Prepping To Return: Proposing To Play With 22 Teams

The NBA suspended its season on March 11 because of the coronavirus pandemic, but the league has finally announced plans for a return.

“NBA IS BACK” began trending early Wednesday morning (June 3rd) on Twitter after it was confirmed that The National Basketball Association has decided to resume basketball games on July 31st in Orlando, Florida on The Walt Disney World Resort.

According to reports, the NBA’s board of governors has a call on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. ET to vote and approve the  22-team proposed format, to restart the season.  On Wednesday, ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski took to Twitter to share details about which teams would be involved and what the new format will be. The plan will include 13 Western Conference teams, 9 Eastern Conference teams, each team playing 8 regular-season games, a possible play-in tournament for the eighth seed, and playoffs.

Here are the 22 of 30 original NBAteams chosen to play in the new tournament:

Eastern Conference

1. Milwaukee Bucks

2. Toronto Raptors

3. Boston Celtics

4. Miami Heat

5. Indiana Pacers

6. Philadelphia 76ers

7. Brooklyn Nets

8. Orlando Magic

9. Washington Wizards

Western Conference

1. Los Angeles Lakers

2. Los Angeles Clippers

3. Denver Nuggets

4. Utah Jazz

5. Oklahoma City Thunder

6. Houston Rockets

7. Dallas Mavericks

8. Memphis Grizzlies

9. Portland Trail Blazers

10. New Orleans Pelicans

11. Sacramento Kings

12. San Antonio Spurs

13. Phoenix Suns

Teams will begin training at team sites in July and advance to full training camps in Orlando in July, sources said.

While on The Walt Disney Land resort, players can expect vert strict guidelines to ensure social distancing,

“While players and coaches will be allowed to golf and eat at outdoor restaurants in Disney, they will also be required to maintain social distancing”

Employees of the resort will also have to maintain similar rules,

“No staff will be allowed into players’ rooms, and hallways will be carefully managed to avoid crowding.”

Teams are reported to play “all day long” in a Summer League-like format until the playoffs begin,

Essentially, just like with Summer League, there will be basketball all day long when things restart with the regular season games. Then playoffs will look more like what we are used to, as they always play 4 games a day on Saturday and Sunday in the first round. https://t.co/kHzMSShPPX

— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) June 3, 2020

Are you ready for the NBA to return? How do you feel about the new format? Let us know in the comments?