The 2019-20 NBA season was previously expected to resume on July 31, but ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the league now hopes to start the season one day earlier on July 30.
Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium recently provided key tentative NBA postseason dates, with the NBA Finals scheduled to begin Sept. 30 and end by Oct. 12. It’s unclear if moving up the season one day will change anything with those dates, but we should assume the postseason plan remains the same.
Additionally, Charania reports that the NBA is planning to allow team rosters of up to 17 players for the rest of the season. Charania notes that the previous estimate was a 15-player roster limit.
It makes sense to go with bigger rosters in this very weird situation that will feature 22 teams playing in an Orlando bubble.
For example, if multiple injuries — or COVID-19 cases — were to happen for a team, it’s more difficult to find replacements. The remainder of the G League season has been canceled (as are most organized leagues), and finding access to gyms — in order to stay in proper basketball shape — is difficult for many people during the pandemic. And organizing travel plans isn’t nearly as simple as it was pre-pandemic.
So, the league might as well just let teams have larger rosters to work with immediately, and that could save everyone a lot of trouble.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.