If the NBA is able to continue the 2019-20 season like reports are indicating, and if the league sticks with its normal playoff format, the Brooklyn Nets are slated to be the No. 7 team in the Eastern Conference. Should the league try to play a few more games before starting the 2020 NBA Playoffs, that could change since the Orlando Magic are one game back in the loss column.
But now is the chance for the NBA to stray from the norm, in a year that’s been anything but normal for anyone. The league’s hiatus has provided NBA commissioner Adam Silver with the opportunity to propose a playoff format where all 16 teams that qualify for the postseason are re-seeded 1-16 regardless of conference.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst expressed on “Get Up!” that it could be proposed to owners on Friday. But even if it does, he still doesn’t think it’ll stick long term.
"I still think it's going to be a hard pass."@WindhorstESPN on the possibility of the NBA re-seeding teams 1-16, regardless of conference. pic.twitter.com/kDBk8QlSb2
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) May 25, 2020
Regardless of what happens beyond 2019-20, if a 1-16 reseeding proposal does go through for this year’s playoffs, then the Nets wouldn’t face the Toronto Raptors like they’re slated to now. In fact, they wouldn’t face an Eastern Conference team in the first round.
In a 1-16 re-seeded format, the Nets would be the No. 15 team, and they’d face the top-seeded team in the Western Conference: the Los Angeles Lakers, who’d be No. 2 behind the Milwaukee Bucks.
If (IF IF IF) the NBA went 1-16 seeds for playoffs, here are the current matchups:
1 Bucks vs 16 Magic
2 Lakers vs 15 Nets
3 Raptors vs 14 Grizzlies
4 Clippers vs 13 Mavericks
5 Celtics vs 12 76ers
6 Nuggets vs 11 Pacers
7 Jazz vs 10 Rockets
8 Heat vs 9 Thunder— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) May 25, 2020
That means Spencer Dinwiddie gets to take on his hometown team in the postseason for the first time. It’d also create a much tougher matchup for the Nets, given the Lakers are one of the favorites to make it the NBA Finals, whereas the Raptors — who’d still be a tough opponent — are among the teams in the East who could give the Milwaukee Bucks a fight in the East under the normal format, but ultimately aren’t expected to make it to the final round.
It would also be the first time the Nets franchise played a Western Conference opponent in the playoffs since 2003, when they faced the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals. It’d also be the second time the Nets ever faced the Lakers in the NBA Playoffs, the first instance being the 2002 NBA Finals.