NBA, NBAPA vote to begin 72-game 2020-21 season Christmas week
2020-21 NBA season set to begin Christmas week
As expected, there’s going to be a busy next few weeks in the NBA. That’s because the NBA and NBAPA voted late Thursday to begin the 2020-21 season on December 22. The new season will be shortened by 10 games but should a little more like a normal structure, opening the possibility to begin the 2021-22 season back on schedule.
Details still need to be finalized, but we now have an official starting date for the 2020-21 season and that should bring at least some excitement for the month of December for NBA fans and teams itching to get started.
The 2020 NBA Draft is slated for November 18 and free agency should begin not soon after. For the season to begin December 22, that would mean training camps would likely have to open during the first week of December.
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While there have been concerns about whether the 2020-21 season starting in December is the smartest decision, especially coming from the point of view of those teams that played deep into the 2020 NBA playoffs in the league’s restart bubble, there are also teams that have been waiting for a chance to return. Eight teams weren’t invited to the restart bubble and haven’t played competitive NBA basketball since March.
For them, it’s been roughly eight months since the NBA officially entered a hiatus. They’d welcome an earlier start to the new season. Of course, though, there was no appeasing every player and team with any decision that was going to be made.
It was also clear that starting the season in January would cost the NBA and players massive amounts of money. For the sake of both, it’s not surprising that the league and players association did what they could to stop the bleeding on that front.
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The next few weeks in the NBA will be active and somewhat chaotic – sometimes, fans prefer it that way. Buckle up; it appears that the NBA Draft and free agency period is expected to begin later this month.