The pros and cons to rushing into the 2020-21 NBA season
The NBA offseason is here and shorter than ever. The NBA concluded later than it ever has after the league was forced into a hiatus due to a global pandemic in March. After a very successful restart bubble, the Los Angeles Lakers won the championship in early October. Of course, October is typically when preseason begins for a normal season, so the 2020-21 season was always going to start later than usual.
The NBA recently announced a 72-game proposal with the season starting December 22, with the players quickly voting in support of it. This means that it is really only a 71-day offseason, even if only two teams played that far.
That’s nearly half of the time that teams usually have between June and October. This quick turnaround opens a lot of questions. Is this enough time for playoff teams to rest? Has enough changed pandemic-wise since the NBA Finals to have teams travel around the country for games? We’re going to look at the pros and cons below.