NBA Board of Governors Approves 22-Team Resumption Plan

It's official: the National Basketball Association (NBA) is back.

It has been three months since the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic has forced the NBA to go on a hiatus with rumors even circulating that we may never see the league return to action this year. Fortunately, the NBA is indeed returning with a shortened path to complete the 2019-2020 season.

Among the four proposals on how the league could return, the NBA Board of Governors voted to resume the season on July 31, 2020, with 22 teams going to Disney World in Orlando to play eight regular-season games for the purpose of determining the seedings of each team and that, each team will play eight games, picking up from whey they left off since the shutdown in March.

After each of the  22 teams, nine from the Eastern Conference and 13 from the Los Angeles Lakers-led Western Conference has played eight games to determine their respective seedings, the top seven teams in each of the conferences are most likely locked in their playoff berths but the scramble for the final playoff spot in each conference? That's where things may get spicier than usual.

If the eight-seeded team and the ninth-seeded team in a conference is only four games within each other, then there will be a play-in series wherein the team with the four-game lead will only have to win once while the team that is down four games will have to win twice. Now, if the eighth-seeded team is ahead by more than four games by the end of their schedule, they will get the final playoff spot right away.

After that playoff picture has been completed, the usual playoffs would commence with the usual format of having a first-round, a conference semifinal, a conference final, and of course, the NBA Finals with each series being a best-of-seven slugfest. And if the NBA Finals does go the distance, Game Seven will be played on October 12, 2020.

And since all games will be played in Orlando, teams will no longer enjoy the homecourt advantage except perhaps for the Orlando Magic who are five and a half games ahead of the Washington Wizards for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference as of the moment. 

While this is certainly a drastic change not just for the teams but also, for the fans, this is still a welcome development considering the situation we are all in. And while many things are still needed to happen before July 31, the approval of the 22-team resumption plan is another step forward towards the return of the NBA, and more importantly, the return of Playoff LeBron.

Photo is from ESPN