Monday brought forth some good news for NBA fans who are hoping to see pro basketball played again sooner rather than later.
The question as to when the 2020-21 NBA season would begin has been an oft-discussed topic since the league suspended play back in March. The Olympics being scheduled to commence on July 23, 2021 further complicates matters, as NBA players have been instrumental in the growth of the game and, in most instances, are one of international sports’ highlights.
If the 2020-21 season began later than usual — a certainty at this point — then it is possible that the league could be in the middle of its playoffs when the Tokyo games begin.
That’s one consideration, but according to Bill Simmons of The Ringer, not the only one. According to Simmons, the NBA also doesn’t want to have to compete for NFL kickoff in September or be relying on Americans to watch its playoffs in August when most people are presumably spending time on summer activities.
Simmons addressed these topics on The Bill Simmons Podcast, and his commentary was transcribed by RealGM.com.
“There’s a lot of indication that the NBA might start a lot sooner than anybody thought,” said Bill Simmons. “I think the thinking is, I mean Christmas would be the ideal, but I don’t think they could pull it together that fast. But if you do it by Martin Luther King weekend range. Somewhere between Christmas and Martin Luther King weekend.
“The thinking is this next season is screwed now. Because fans aren’t going to be back until god only knows? April? May? Who knows? But they have to preserve the season after. The later they wait to start this season, the more it [expletive] with the next season.
Simmons makes a good point. If the 2020-21 NBA season begins in March, it would be difficult to imagine a scenario where the regular season ends before July, and that’s being quite optimistic. Under normal circumstances, the NBA would begin its season in mid-to-late October, with its regular season ending in mid-April — that’s about six months. The playoffs then begin with the NBA Finals being scheduled to conclude a potential seventh game somewhere in mid-to-late June. That’s about eight months total, and eight months from March brings us to November. Even if the league managed to condense the schedule, though, it’s difficult to imagine ending the season before September.
That would essentially put the NBA in a predicament where it’s changing its entire calendar in a way that didn’t appear to benefit it this past summer. So, according to Simmons, the smart thing to do might be to begin the 2020-21 season earlier enough to ensure that it ends on schedule, even if it means less fans. The major upside to that is that the 2021-22 season would, in theory, be able to revert to the NBA’s normal calendar. It makes sense.
“I know they have talks with the networks this week… But you bite the bullet, you start it sooner than later. You go like 72 games, 70 games, something like that. Get rid of the All-Star break…
“The thing that they learned is nobody watches television in August. Regardless of whether there’s a pandemic or not… You know what really worked? Having the Finals in June and then the offseason in July and you own those two months. They want to get back to that, or some version of that. To do that, you have to start the next season sooner than later.”
With the country seemingly showing signs of the “second wave” of COVID-19 infections that many have been warning of for several months, there’s no telling when we might get back to a place where we’re comfortable, as a society, with 20,000 people convening in a closed arena for a sporting event.
It stands to reason that the NBA is considering its options and, perhaps, slowly realizing that waiting indefinitely for fans to be able to return to arenas might not be in its long-term interests.