The NBA should start in December and embrace load management
There has been a lot of talk about when the NBA could start the 2020-2021 season. One rumored option has been to start around Christmas, similar to the lockout-shortened season in 2011, while many of the players have been pushing to start the season in mid-January to February.
The league rumored target start date is December 22nd for a 72-game season, which would end it in time for the players to participate in the Olympics and not cut into next season. Expectedly, many players don’t want to return that quickly because they feel like they just ended the previous season (especially those that participated deep into the playoffs.
Financially, starting the season in December could bring in an extra $500 million in profits as opposed to a January start.
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What the NBA could do that might be a reasonable compromise is to adopt the European Soccer rest strategy for this season where players would not be available in the lineup for every game. This could allow the season to start around Christmas and maybe see stars play initially but then maybe take a few games off, or possibly an extended rest period of a week or two.
In Soccer, most star players don’t play every game because of the overlap in the schedule which includes tournaments, league play, and other factors. A player’s unavailability is done to keep them rested to win the maximum amount of trophies. For instance, Juventus played 52 games across all competitions last year, and Cristiano Ronaldo appeared in 46 games.
For the sake of this season, the NBA should allow players to rest for prolonged stretches. Rest management has become a thing that causes past NBA players to roll their eyes but this would be a different take on it.
If we allowed players, especially the star players and teams that went further in the NBA bubble, the option to rest they might be open to an earlier restart. This would be the perfect compromise that both the players and owners can live with. The owners can make more money and the players who went deep in the playoffs can get more time off.
Some drawbacks are that teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers might lose a few more games than they wanted. Those teams could also use that period with missing players as a way to look at the bottom half of their roster. Perhaps use the time without their stars as a try-out phase or advanced Summer League to find new talent.
When advocating for the earlier restart you have to remember that some teams have not played since March. Most of those rosters have young talent that those teams want to develop.
If the league allows this they need to make sure the teams are open with who is available. Usually, soccer teams will list the players available for a game the night before or the morning of. This should also be done in The NBA so the league could flex into more desirable primetime games for nationally televised games.
The 2020-2021 NBA season is going to be an obstacle course season. Where the league is going have to hurdle many challenges and figure things out on the fly. The NBA starting sooner and allowing the players to choose what games they want to play could be the only way the league can get a whole season this year and hopefully have a normal season next year.