Reports over the last few months have suggested that the 2020-21 NBA season may start in January or as early as late December, and that’s still the case. Here’s New York Newsday on it:
Less than two weeks after the NBA season finally came to an end, the league could be looking toward a start to next season as soon as Dec. 22.
The Athletic reported that a source inside the NBA’s Board of Governor’s meeting Friday indicated that a Dec. 22 start with a 72-game schedule is the target. ESPN said that Christmas Day could be the startup date with a schedule of 70 to 72 games.
A league source said that while NBA commissioner Adam Silver has stated that the league would not start before Christmas Day, that day was still on the table and it was discussed with teams at the meeting on Friday.
But the NBA and the team owners are not the only ones who have to agree to this. The NBA players association must OK a plan.
If the season does wind up starting in late December, that means we’ll have a very fast free agency period.
Typically, the top free agents tend to agree to deals very early in free agency, but plenty of other players, including most deep-bench players, soemtimes take weeks or even a month or two to land deals. It sounds like that entire process will be sped up. Which isn’t a problem at all, actually.
