Commissioner Adam Silver has informed the NBA’s Board of Governors that the league targets to reopen its season in Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida on July 31, according to a report by The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
The NBA is still discussing possible scenarios regarding its resumption, such as jumping instantly to the playoffs or finishing out the rest of the season.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne reported that among possible scenarios, there is “growing support for a plan to bring 22 teams” in a format that would incorporate play-in games to the normal regular season.
Charania reported that in a survey among NBA general managers, 53 percent chose to advance directly to the playoffs, 27 percent want an abbreviated season with play-in games and 60 percent voted for a 72-game season.
Most general managers also want the season to end “no later than Oct. 1.”
“The NBA needs a three-fourths majority of owners to approve a return-to-play plan, and an overwhelming majority of owners expressed a desire to do precisely that on both a board of governors call on Friday and later in interviews with ESPN,” Wojnarowski and Shelburne’s report said.
The report also said that the NBA Players Association wants regular season games to be played first before jumping to the playoffs.
The playoffs were supposed to start last April 18.
The league indefinitely postponed its season on March 11 after Utah Jazz all-star Rudy Gobert tested positive for the new coronavirus. John Ezekiel J. Hirro