According to The Ringer, the NBA made a call earlier with GMs and franchise presidents to present its plan for a season that would start on December 22. The goal is to play 72 games so that the season ends with the Olympic Games which must begin on July 23, to resume a normal schedule during the 2021-22 season.
She confirmed that she also wanted to reduce travel for the teams as much as possible. This means series of matches against the same team as is done in MLB (teams compete in 4-5 games in a row in the same city). For example, when the Lakers travel to New York, they could face the Knicks and the Nets, which is often done, but not widespread. Two teams could also compete twice in 24 or 48 hours. Ultimately, this would reduce travel by 25%.
The goal of the league would always be to avoid playing in one or more bubbles and focus on the markets. The hope would also be that at some point in the season the fans could attend the meetings.
Note that according to ESPN, the NBA would study the possibility of gradually revealing the calendar of the season to maintain flexibility, especially if games were to be postponed for various reasons, in particular a team where the virus would have spread.
It is quite possible that the All-Star Game will be canceled and the league will use the usual All-Star Break as a break for players, or to catch up on games that have been postponed.
Sources: The NBA held a call this afternoon with team GMs & presidents to detail the plan for a 72-game season set to begin December 22 & end before the Olympics in July. The league intends to schedule games in a way that reduces travel by 25% with teams playing MLB style series.
— Kevin O’Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) October 28, 2020
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