The NBA Board of Governors is expected to meet at some point Friday. While a final determination on the resumption of the 2019-20 season is not expected until next week, this is a big first step.
2019-20 NBA season
The season has been suspended since all the way back on March 11 after Utah Jazz star center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19.
There’s now renewed optimism that it will not be a lost season with expectations that the campaign will start up in Orlando at some point this summer. Though, we still don’t know how the season will look.
According to this note from Shams Charania of The Athletic, 83% of general managers believe that the playoff field should be expanded to 20-plus teams. The survey also had a few other interesting tidbits.
It’s going to be hard for the NBA to get some teams back amid the pandemic if said teams have no shot at earning a spot in the playoffs. As of right now, the five-time defending Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors are the only team mathematically eliminated from postseason contention.
If the NBA can expand the playoff field, it would give other teams more incentive to return to a bubble city at Walt Disney World in Orlando.
Another interesting aspect of the survey is that only 53% of general managers want to continue the campaign without playing at least a few regular-season games.
This is something Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban touched on in the past. It would obviously be difficult for teams to head directly to playoff action after a four-month hiatus from playing.
According to Charania, most general managers would like the season to end no later than Oct. 1. They’d also want more roster flexibility and are in support of traditional playoff seeding.