We have spent approximately the past week debating various scenarios about how the NBA may come back, when they move to a central location at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. But as we have written many times, the decision on how to proceed will ultimately rest on the slender shoulders of NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
Following Friday’s conference call with the NBA’s Board of Governors, where they went over which proposals have the support and which ones are not quite as sturdy, the league’s owners expect Silver to proceed with a plan that will invite 20-to-22 teams to the playoffs, including a play-in tournament for the final few seeds, according to ESPN’s trio of Adrian Wojnarowski, Ramona Shelburne, and Zach Lowe.
Owners are largely planning to pledge support for Silver's final recommedation on a plan, which teams expect to include invitations for 20-to-22 teams to resume the season, sources tell @ramonashelburne, @ZachLowe_NBA and me. https://t.co/8waxNm1Dpc
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 29, 2020
Considering reports from yesterday, as well as the suggestion that the NBA is reseeded as one organism is that they are all at one site and not divided geographically, a 20-22 playoff format with a play-in for the final three playoff seeds seems most likely.
A 20-team format would include Brooklyn and Orlando, as well as Memphis, Portland, New Orleans, San Antonio, and Sacramento. Should the play-in for the final three seeds expand to 22, it would also include the Phoenix Suns and the Washington Wizards.
[lawrence-related id=31314,31280]