Most NBA sides will go home early
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Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks taking a shot against the Washington Wizards at the Capital One Arena on Feb 24 in Washington. The NBA season was suspended on March 11.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
LOS ANGELES • With some National Basketball Association (NBA) players reportedly concerned about the length of their stay in the Disney World Resort "bubble" in Orlando, Florida, the league plans to have the vast majority of teams done for the season relatively quickly.
ESPN reported on Thursday that 14 of the 22 teams headed to the entertainment complex for the restarted season will be eliminated from contention within 53 days of their arrival.
Following that, just four of the 22 teams will still be playing after 67 days.
The league and the National Basketball Players Association have been hashing out details of the return-to-action plan in the wake of the NBA's hiatus prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.
The season has been on hold since March 11, when the Utah Jazz's Rudy Gobert tested positive for the Covid-19 disease.
On Wednesday, ESPN said some of the participants in a league conference call had expressed their misgivings about the enhanced health and safety protocols.
Among the major sticking points is that visitors will not be permitted to enter the "bubble" until the end of the first round of the play-offs - almost seven weeks after players arrive at Disney World - tentatively scheduled to be played from July 9 to 11.
Players who leave the facility are set to be subject to a 10-day quarantine period upon their return to the team.
According to ESPN, the league is now aiming for a July 30 restart date, one day earlier than originally announced.
Eight teams have already had their seasons prematurely ended, while the other 22 will each play eight regular-season games.
One or two play-in games would be for the last post-season berth in the Western and Eastern Conference, if the eighth-and ninth-placed teams wind up within four games of each other.
The standard play-off format would then be followed, with four rounds of a best-of-seven series, with the NBA Finals due to start by Sept 30.
Game 7, if necessary, could be played as late as Oct 12.
The NBA is also planning to allow as many as 17 players - 15 will be under standard contracts with the other two under two-way deals - per team when play recommences.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS
