Reports have indicated that the NBA will come up with some sort of resolution for its return to play a little later this week, and on Wednesday, the plan that Adam Silver plans to present to the league’s Board of Governors gained a bit more clarity. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Silver will bring forth a 22-team plan, something that had been speculated in recent days as a full, 30-team restart and a straight jump to a 16-team postseason have fallen out of favor.
As Charania lays out, the 22-team plan will bring the 16 current playoff teams and an additional six squads that will battle for the 8-seed.
The NBA’s 22-team format at Orlando’s Disney World would bring the 16 teams currently in a playoff spot, six additional teams, and include a play-in tournament for the eighth seed, sources said. The play-in tournament would work as follows, according to sources: If the ninth seed is more than four games behind the eighth seed, the eighth seed earns the playoff spot; if the ninth seed is four or fewer games behind, then the eighth and ninth seed will enter a play-in tournament that is double-elimination for the eighth seed and single-elimination for ninth. ESPN first reported the league was working on 22-team models.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN added some more details, indicating that all 22 teams will play games with an eye on seeding and that the expectation is this plan will get approved by the league’s Board of Governors.
Each of the 22 teams will play eight regular season games in Orlando for seeding purposes for the playoffs, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 3, 2020
The NBA’s Board of Governors has a 12:30 PM ET call on Thursday with the intention of approving the league’s plan for a 22-team return-to-play in Orlando, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/Sh7k6ylCdz
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 3, 2020
The news comes on the heels of some reporting about the NBA’s plan to have these games occur in Orlando. On Tuesday, Wojnarowski added some additional details on a timeline, saying that the plan is for the league to restart on July 31 (something that was confirmed by Charania) and have mid-October as the latest possible date for the season to reach its conclusion.
ESPN Sources: As the NBA models a 22-team format for a July 31 resumption in Orlando, the proposed timeline for teams as the last possible date for an NBA Finals Game 7: October 12.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 2, 2020
There are still some logistical questions that would need to be sorted out, like timelines for a return, how all of these games will be scheduled out, and how this will impact the 2020-21 season. But while we’ll have to wait for Thursday for this plan to become official, all signs are pointing to the NBA’s return.