Ideally, the NBA would resume play by jumping into the 2020 Playoffs, rather than continue the regular season. But players need to ease back into the flow, they can’t just come off the couch and begin the playoffs.
Given how the league appears to be approaching the restart to the season, it appears everyone has this understanding. Because it doesn’t look like the league wants to jump right into the playoffs. In fact, fans may still see a few regular season games played — not just exhibition matchups that don’t impact the standings.
On Friday, following a call between the league and the NBA Board of Governors, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported “there’s growing support for a plan to bring 22 teams to Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in July.”
This means there would be six teams who haven’t qualified for the postseason taking part in the Orlando games — but these teams have a chance to clinch a playoff berth. Because, according to Woj, the teams invited would need to be “within six games of the final playoff spots in each conference.”
This means only one of the six additional teams invited would be from the Eastern Conference: the Washington Wizards. At season’s end, they trailed the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic by 5.5 games, and the seventh-seeded Brooklyn by six.
Now, the fact teams need to be six games behind the final playoff spot in each conference gives some indication as to how many regular season games will be played. If the league wants 70 games to be played, the Nets would only need to win one more game in order to secure a playoff berth.
Woj’s report also indicated there’s still the possibility of a play-in round. When it came to this idea, the option that received the most votes (13) was “A play-in tournament for the seventh and eighth spots in each conference.”
Having a play-in tournament with three teams seems convoluted on the surface, and the 10th-ranked Charlotte Hornets — who were 1.5 games behind the Wizards in the East standings — don’t qualify under the original parameters. So, if the Nets secure the seventh seed, they should be in the clear and able to avoid any sort of play-in games. If the league just has a regular season, then Brooklyn has even less work to do in order to secure a playoff berth.