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With the 2019-20 NBA season officially over, the league can now shift full-speed ahead to determining the salary cap and key dates for next season, including free agency and the start of the 2020-21 season itself.
The league will be tasked with finalizing the salary cap and other related details surrounding contracts in the coming weeks with the hope that it is ready by the time the NBA Draft takes place on Nov. 18. Teams need salary cap numbers in order to execute trades and other related moves during the NBA Draft.
Of course, the NBA will also need to determine the start date for the 2020-21 season. The league initially targeted Dec. 1 for opening night, and then pushed that back to Christmas Day. They eventually determined that those two dates were too soon but now, a new target date has emerged: Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
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According to John Hollinger of The Athletic, Jan. 18 is the latest target date for the NBA to kick off next season. The NBA has honored the civil rights leader for 34 years and the holiday represents the second-largest day of programming on the schedule behind Christmas Day with the sport surging to the forefront of diversity and inclusion.
The target date of Jan. 18 also gives the league office enough time to make the schedule itself, which often takes several months to complete. The NBA will have to factor in rest time, travel time and other variables when creating the schedule this year. Put simply, there is still plenty to figure out regarding how next season will look.
The next several months figure to be rather important in shaping the 2020-21 season. The NBA managed to pull off an incredible feat by completing the 2019-20 season at the Wide World of Sports Complex without a single positive coronavirus test but it is clear their work for next season won’t be any easier…
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