How NBA Could Return this July?

There are two things that are almost sure up to this point: the National Basketball Association (NBA) will resume the 2019-2020 season this July and that, the resumption will likely take place inside Disney World in Orlando, Florida. It's now the question of how.

And we'll get the answer to that "how" question in the coming days as reports are now saying that the NBA teams are expected to meet next week to vote on which format the league will take to restart the season. But how exactly does the league intend to resume NBA action? 

Right now, there are four plans that are on the table.

The first one is simple: the top 16 teams in the NBA will jump straight into the playoffs.

The second option will include 20 teams and those teams will likely compete in a group stage- something that we see in the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) World Cup and the Olympics. 

In the third option, 22 teams will complete the regular season for the purpose of determining the seeding then it will be followed by a play-in-tournament to determine who will move on into the 16-team playoff picture. The basic idea o,f this option is that all teams within six-game behind the last playoff spot in each of the conferences will play eight regular-season games to determine who will get the final spots and from there,

The final option will include all 30 teams wherein all teams will finish a 72-game season instead of the normal 82-game schedule. Then, a play-in-tournament will follow suit. 

One of the factors we need to consider is that we're still in the middle of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic and that, the more teams will be playing upon the resumption of the season, the higher the risk of more people getting infected. While the third option will give teams within reach of the final playoff spot a chance to make it to the postseason, sources are saying that this option is already dead for a vast majority of the team owners. 

What option the NBA will choose is up to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver as he will meet with the team owners this week. But if there's one good thing about this, the NBA will be back in July. 

Photo is from Sports Illustrated