With the start of the 2020-21 NBA season officially announced as December 22, we can now confirm this will be the shortest offseason in NBA history. At just 72 days, it will be so by a margin of 55 days, beating the 2017-18 offseason, which was the previous shortest offseason ever at 127 days.
Prior to this year, the average length of an NBA offseason was 155.8 days, which goes to show just how quick the turnaround this year will be for players.
Luckily, 14 franchises haven’t played since March, so some teams will be geared up and ready to go for the start of the 2020-21 campaign, but for the 16 bubble teams, especially the two Finalists – the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers – this quick of a turnaround will likely affect how they use their veterans, particularly early on in the campaign.
Lakers guard Danny Green went so far as to speculate while on an interview with The Ringer that both he and LeBron James would miss as much as the first month of next season as they recover from the grind that was the bubble.
Though that might have been a bit of hyperbole from Green, don’t be surprised if this record-setting offseason leads to more cases of load management early on in the 2020-21 league year.