When the NBA announced they would restart the 2019-20 NBA season in the middle of July, they officially changed the NBA calendar for the foreseeable future.
For example, a champion will not be named until October, which is traditionally the month that marks the start of the next regular season. With that being the case, the league said they would “likely” begin the 2020-21 campaign on December 1st. The situation has always remained fluid, but as we get further into the NBA bubble, it’s beginning to feel less and less likely that next season will start only a little over one month after this one ends.
In fact, according to Pacers reporter Scott Agness, the NBA has now canceled the hotel reservations for All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis.
NBA cancels contracts with Indy hotels, signaling its plan to move All-Star Weekend in February.
Indy expected for the events to have an economic impact of $100M.
Story with comments from the NBA and Pacers: https://t.co/LQ9lvGfwrw
— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) August 18, 2020
Originally slated for the weekend of February 12th, all this really tells us is that the NBA is moving All-Star Weekend. Also, think about it, with the season expected to start in December, it doesn’t make much sense to have an All-Star Game roughly one month into action.
Still, this move certainly raises a few eyebrows, especially with some recent rumors swirling about potentially starting next season as late as March (via The Athletic):
In fact, one extreme idea that has made the rounds is to push the start of next season all the way back to March. That gives the greatest odds of having a vaccine or some other intervention that can allow fans in seats – maybe some fans, if not a packed house – and help offset an otherwise dire revenue shortfall for 2020-21, one that has small-market teams in particular panicked.
All we know for certain is that we don’t know when the ongoing pandemic will be under control. I don’t think a bubble to start next season is entirely out of the realm of possibilities, but the NBA doesn’t want to have to work through those logistics if they don’t have to. At the same time, if the virus is still posing a major threat come December, the last thing the league wants to do is put their players at risk with a non-bubble format. After all, we’ve seen how that’s going so far with the MLB (and, spoiler alert, it’s not great).
Anyhow, this will be something to keep a close eye on. I’m knocking on wood that we can get some kind of season around Christmas or New Years. If not, and let’s say the league does decide to play next spring, we’re looking at practically an entire year off for the Chicago Bulls. (1) I don’t want to go that long without watching this team, and (2) that’s horrible for player development.