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The NBA season is reportedly set to resume on July 31. Not surprisingly, the Golden State Warriors will not be included in the league’s plans to restart.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Board of Governor’s will hold a meeting at 9:30 a.m. PT on Thursday, with the intention of passing the latest return to play proposal. The play will take place in Orlando, at the Walt Disney Resort.
The NBA's Board of Governors has a 12:30 PM ET call on Thursday with the intention of approving the league's plan for a 22-team return-to-play in Orlando, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/Sh7k6ylCdz
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 3, 2020
The season resumption will feature 22 teams, all of which are either in the playoffs or have a chance of getting into the playoffs. The remaining eight teams who are non-contenders — including the already eliminated Warriors — will stay home.
Because there is more jockeying for the final seed in the Western Conference, that means that 13 teams from the West are headed to Orlando, while only 9 teams from the East are.
The season will resume with eight regular-season games for each team. At the conclusion of the regular season, the top seven seeds will be locked into their playoff spots, while a potential play-in tournament will take place for the eighth seed if the ninth seed is close.
It’s unclear from Wojnarowski’s wording how close a ninth seed needs to be to earn a play-in tournament. He reports that fewer than four games behind the eighth seed results in a play-in tournament, while more than four games back means the eighth seed gets to keep the seed. We’ll have to wait for clarification to see what happens if someone is exactly four games back.
Sources: Joining the 16 current playoff teams in Orlando: New Orleans, Portland, Phoenix, Sacramento and San Antonio in the West and Washington in the East. If the 9th seed is more than 4 games behind the 8th, No. 8 makes playoffs; Fewer than 4 games, a play-in tournament.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 3, 2020
The play-in format requires a double-elimination format for the 8th seed, a single-elimination for the 9th seed, per sources.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 3, 2020
So there we have it. The NBA will be back in less than two months. And we’ll have to wait until the 2020-21 season to see the Warriors.