NBA 22-Team Format Gets Approval from Board of Governors

The NBA 2019-20 Season Gets Approval from the Board of Governors for a 22-team format and will resume in late July at the Disney campus near Orlando, Florida. This is one of the most promising News in the direction of getting the teams back on the fields. In a call with the commissioner, Adam Silver on June 5, Thursday, the return-of-play plan was approved. This agreement will put an end to the longstanding season’s halt that took place after the play was suspended in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak and as a part of the safety measures. The season will resume from 31st July and the finals will end somewhere around on October 12 this year. According to this return-to-play plan, 22 teams will be sent to Orlando, Florida. Each of these 22 teams will play 8 regular-season games, which will determine further seeding for a complete, 16-team playoff field.

How many NBA teams will return to play?

Total teams: 22

From West: 13

From East: 9

Amid the prevailing coronavirus threat, the board of directors has decided — of the 30 teams only 22 will be taking part in the NBA season. All games, including the playoffs, are going to be played at the Walt Disney World Resort Orlando. With the announcement, the league states "The NBA and the NBPA are working with infectious disease specialists, public health experts, and the government officials to establish a rigorous program to prevent and mitigate the risk related to COVID-19, including a regular testing protocol and stringent safety practices. The season restart is also contingent on an agreement with The Walt Disney Company to use Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida, as a single site for a campus for all games, practices, and housing for the remainder of the season."

The eight games played by each team will specifically determine the playoff seeding, and also any possible utilization of a play-in tournament both in the western conference and Eastern conference postseason fields. There is also news of talks going on between NBA & NBPA that have been taking place continuously, and they are working out a “full-fledged medical document.” The final decision on releasing the medical protocol document will take place only after everything looks at the place and the discussions are over.

The play-in tournament for the 2020 playoffs.

If before the postseason, all of these 22 teams play eight games as allotted, the NBA will be playing 1,059 regular-season games. This means that in all 171 regular-season games are going to be canceled this season. This would cost players around $600 million. But, there have been positive signs with the biggest hurdle clearing off from the way of the NBA season getting delayed. If everything works as planned, we would see the champion of the season being crowned somewhere in October. Teams, however, in late June will get permission to visit the training camps, before joining the season at the Disney complex in July. Before beginning with the regular season, the teams would get a chance to play some preseason games against their opponents.