It turns out that basketball may be returning much sooner than anyone thought… Much, much sooner.
Last week, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons caused a bit of a stir when he seemingly opined that the NBA could begin the 2020-21 season sometime before Christmas. Simmons’ words came as a bit of a surprise, as many people assumed that the season would begin sometime after January 1, at the earliest.
It turns out, however, the league came to the realization that its interests would be best served by beginning the 2020-21 season before Christmas and concluding it before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics begin on July 23.
In order for that to be a reality, then, training camps may have to convene as early as Dec. 1, and according to Marc Stein of the New York Times, that’s what the league is prepared to pitch to its players. Stein states that regular season play could begin as early as Dec. 22 — just 72 days after the NBA Finals concluded.
Under normal circumstances, there would be upwards of 120 days between the conclusion of the NBA Finals and the first regular-season game, but these are obviously not normal times.
The belief is that the NBA feels that it would be pursuing its best long-term interest by dramatically shortening this offseason such that the 2021 NBA Playoffs (and Finals) won’t be competing for the NFL. Moreover, if the 2020-21 season began later than January, if the league wanted to preserve its ability to play anywhere near 82 games, it would likely have to also delay the beginning of the 2021-22 season.
In other words, three seasons would be impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, whereas only two seasons would be if this offseason was shortened. That, of course, assumes that the coronavirus pandemic will be tamed during 2021, which is no guarantee.
Nonetheless, the league is expecting the players to approve the early return, which means that the Thunder could reconvene for the 2020-21 season in just over a month, just weeks after the 2020 NBA Draft.
These are certainly unprecedented times, but for those wishing for a short offseason, their wishes might be on the brink of coming true.