There’s still a lot left to be determined with respect to the NBA’s return-to-play plan, especially as we’ve learned that there’s a growing number of players who seem to be unhappy with some of the rules that the league is implementing for its campus at Walt Disney World.
On Thursday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported some newfound details on the time intervals and schedules that the league expects to follow after its resumption. Those details are important since early indications are that the league would like to prohibit outside visitors (including families) of players from entering the campus until after the conclusion of the first round.
In effect, that could mean that players would be isolated from their loved ones for six weeks or more.
According to Wojnarowski’s report, the league has revised its schedule such that it is now aiming to resume play on July 30, one day earlier than the date that was originally reported.
This has become a topic of conversation due to the fact that the teams that end up qualifying for the NBA Finals would be somewhat sequestered at Disney World from mid-July to October. The report, however, does provide some clarity as to the fact that the majority of teams entering the campus would be done within 52 days.
Specifically, teams will convene around July 9 before the first games tipped off on July 30. The regular season would conclude somewhere around mid-August. That would give the league about 45 days to crown conference champions, which it expects to do in time for the NBA Finals to tip-off before the end of September.
The NBA is planning to begin camps July 9-11. Teams will briefly quarantine before beginning formal training camps before regular-season games resume July 30, sources said.
The six teams eliminated after eight regular-season games and a possible play-in tournament for the No. 8 seed would leave Orlando within 35 to 40 days, sources said.
The NBA expects the conference finals will end within a maximum of 82 days, leaving the two NBA finalists, sources said. The league expects the NBA Finals could start by Sept. 30.
In other words, the league wants to do what it can to alleviate some of the anxiety that some players are believed to have by making it clear that 14 teams’ seasons will be over by the time the first round ends — only 16 of the 22 teams heading to Orlando will qualify for the playoffs, and eight will be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.
Those 14 teams will likely be done by the end of August — about 45 days after teams arrive at Disney. The following four weeks would see the other six teams eliminated, leaving the conference champions as the last two standing by the end of September.
So yes, while the thought of living on the NBA’s campus — presumably with little to no socializing for three months — is daunting, only two teams will have to endure that entire stretch.
Obviously, there will be more to come on this in the near future.