NBPA to Vote as Soon as Thursday on 72-Game, December 22 Proposed NBA Start

The format for the 2020-2021 NBA season will be subjected to voting by association players and the NBA.

Reports on Wednesday said that its players’ association would vote on a 72-game season and a start date of December 22 for the new season.

The NBPA has previously been against the December 22 start date as they favor a January 18 date instead. Now the players feel a December 22 start is “inevitable.”

The December start date has financial implications as TV and league partners want a Christmas start date due to the potential of the revenue it will generate.

Also, the fact that the Christmas start date will ensure that the scheduling will return to the normal October-June timetable for 2021-22.

Meanwhile, a January start would affect the 2021 Summer Olympics and affect advertisement sales for the networks, which may make TV partners revisit their deals with the league.

A December 22 start date will mean that training camps will open on December 1, and the season will have 72 games, and the season will finish in mid-May with teams playing 14 matches back to back.

However, it means a shorter travel schedule for the teams in the regular season and followed by a play-in tournament to award the Nos. 7-10 seeds in each conference.

The playoffs will end later in July, but A January 18 start will have a 60-game schedule with 24 back-to-back contests per club. This will see the regular season end around late June, ending with the postseason on track to finish by late August.

Meanwhile, According to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, a December start date for the 2020-2021 NBA season is running out of time.

This is because the NBA needs to give an eight-week notice before the start of a new season.

Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu