As the NBA continues bandying around ideas related to the proposed return to the courts, the New Orleans Pelicans continue to find their way into the conversation. On Tuesday, the league was reportedly considering the idea of a World Cup-style format with 20 teams being included, the Pelicans amongst them.
On Wednesday, while no specific format was given, clarifications on the amount of teams that would be apart of the NBA’s potential restart was given.
Via ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne:
There is a playoffs-plus idea that includes 20 to 24 teams, with the NBA including more teams from the Western Conference than the Eastern Conference, sources said. The NBA is considering play-in possibilities with teams like New Orleans, Portland, San Antonio and Sacramento vying for the postseason, sources said.
The argument for including New Orleans, Portland, San Antonio and Sacramento is based in how close the teams were both to one another and to the eighth-seeded Memphis Grizzlies. When the season came to a close, the Grizzlies were slipping out of the playoffs with the Pelicans tops among the teams making a postseason push.
In the interest of fairness given the amount of games that were remaining, the league is looking for options that includes those four teams just outside of the playoffs in the Western Conference. The matter is less of an issue in the Eastern Conference where the eight-seed Magic are 5.5 games ahead of the nine-seed Wizards.
While the format will continue to be a work in progress, it appears the Pelicans are firmly in the plans to be included in the league’s return, which will be great news for New Orleans.
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