NBA Players and Owners Vote to Grandstand Report for the 2020-21 season with 72 games starting December 22nd

Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press

The NBA will be back before the year is over.

On Thursday, the National Basketball Players Association confirmed that its agents had tentatively approved a 72-game season that will begin on December 22nd.

Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium initially reported that the teams had agreed to a deal.

Charania and Adrian Wojnarowski from ESPN provided further details:

This news was widely expected. The New York Times‘ Marc Stein reported on Wednesday that “all the dynamics on the player side “indicated training camp on December 1 before the regular season three weeks later.

Athletic’s David Aldridge also spoke to an agent who pointed out the possible consequences of not using the proposal submitted:

With the COVID-19 pandemic putting the 2019-20 season on hold, one question among many was how it would disrupt the league’s calendar going forward. The NBA finals didn’t end until October 11th, which made the traditional start of mid-to-late October all but impossible for next year.

One mindset was that the NBA would stand by until the development of a COVID vaccine allowed fans to return to the arenas in large numbers. Some stadiums have allowed fans in other leagues, albeit well below capacity.

The disadvantage of this approach is that it is unclear when a vaccine will hit the market.

In an interview with Bob Costas for CNN in September, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said January was his “best guess” about a launch date. He added that one goal would be to play with fans in home stadiums, but that a number of logistical issues need to be resolved on that front.

However, Charania reported Oct. 23 that the NBA League Bureau had notified its Board of Governors that Dec. 22 was the new tentative target.

Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst from ESPN provided more context. The plan calls for the regular season to be shortened from 82 to 72 games and the all-star game to be canceled in 2021. The report says the NBA is “To abandon plans to delay the opening in hopes of getting fans back to the arena. “

Windhorst stated a reason for December 22nd specifically during its October 26th episode Hoop Collective Podcast. TNT could air the Los Angeles Lakers season opener when their players pick up their NBA championship rings, and ESPN would have its regular games on Christmas Day.

Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe provided the possible financial consequences: “The League believes that a December 22nd launch that includes TV Christmas Day games and allows for a 72-game schedule ending before the Summer Olympics in mid-July will be worth between US $ 500 million and US $ 1 billion in the short and long term -Dollar has revenue for the league and the players, sources said. “

Any suggestion from the league required player approval, and Charania noted what an opening was like at Christmas time. “faster than expected, “indicating a level of resistance that could grow.

Lakers swingman Danny Green sat down The wrestler NBA show Some of his teammates, including LeBron James, may choose to take longer periods of time to get a little more rest:

However, not every team was in the same position as the Lakers and Eastern Conference champion, Miami Heat. The eight franchises that haven’t traveled to the Walt Disney World Resort bubble haven’t played since March, and those that haven’t done deep postseason runs have had a slightly more traditional off-season in terms of length.

Without further reducing the number of games, a December start was arguably the only alternative if the NBA wanted to return to their regular season calendar of October-April for 2021-22.