The Boston Celtics and the rest of the NBA might be playing a lot more back-to-backs in the 2020-21 season if Atlanta Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk is right.
ESPN’s Tim Bontemps reports the Hawks head honcho relating that the league is considering condensing its schedule next season in order to return to a more traditional NBA calendar.
At present, the coronavirus-interrupted season will resume at the end of July, and finish by mid-October, with the 2020-21 season start planned with a tentative target of December 1.
“Because of this circumstance, I think the league wants to stay as close to its original schedule as possible,” shared Schlenk. “There’s a lot of different reasons for that — the college season, the draft and how all of that plays out. So that’s why they’ve laid out a timeline where it would be a very quick turnaround from the NBA Finals to the start of the season.”
Cutting games for a season is another option the league could take, whether on a permanent or single-season basis.
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This is far from a settled matter, as especially high ratings for the league’s late summer postseason and concern for pushing players too hard in a condensed season are among many factors which may push or pull the future NBA schedule one way or another.
That the Olympics would potentially overlap with the regular season is also a concern — as much for players’ desire to participate as for the games being a potentially tough ratings competitor.
The prospect of near-constant games from August to May may prove a more difficult sell than cutting games on a provisional basis, but there’s many months ahead to plan based on how events unfold.
Particularly with a potential second wave of the pandemic or related issue not off the table as a major concern.
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