In today’s world, plans are like Clifford the Big Red Dog on a frozen lake – they fall through. The NBA has been forced to push back key dates numerous times in 2020, and it doesn’t appear to be stopping any time soon.
In an interview with CNN’s Bob Costas, Commissioner Adam Silver said his “best guess” on nest season’s start date is now in January 2021.
With the goal still to play a full 82 games in a semi-normal environment (in other words, not another Orlando bubble), the further the league can push things back, the better. After all, the league still has to figure out exactly what the salary cap will look like past this season – something they intend to focus heavily on after the NBA Finals wrap up in October.
The NBA’s goal for 2020-21, Silver said, remains playing a “standard season” … meaning 82 games plus playoffs
Silver, though, acknowledged to Costas that it will most likely be a 2021 season with no games played in 2020 after completion of the NBA Bubble schedule in October
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) September 22, 2020
On CNN, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on when next season might start: "My best guess is that even though it will be the 2020-21 season, that season won't start until '21." He still added the "goal is to play a standard season" a 82-game season in front of fans. All TBD, though
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) September 22, 2020
A January start date – at the earliest – wouldn’t prove to be all that different from what we’ve come to expect over the last couple of months. When the bubble was announced, the league said the would plan to start the following season by December 1st, a decision that always felt like far too quick of a turnaround. Then, most recently, we got news that Christmas Day would become the earliest possible start date. We’ve now entered the next month, and it’s anyone’s guess where things will go from here.
As for the other important league dates, the 2020 NBA Draft is now set for November 18th, and a combine of sorts will take place sometime over the next month or so. Meanwhile, we have to yet get a clear idea of when the league will start free agency, which was originally rescheduled for October 18th.
Anyway, once this season finally ends, I’m assuming (hoping?) all of this information will be revealed relatively quickly. Until then, I’ll try to enjoy the basketball we have left.
