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What’s next for the remainder of the NBA season?

By Jake Weinbach

MIAMI, FLORIDA - MARCH 11: A general view of American Airlines Arena after the game between the Miami Heat and the Charlotte Hornets on March 11, 2020 in Miami, Florida. The NBA announced the season has been suspended after a Utah Jazz player preliminary tested positive for the coronavirus. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FLORIDA - MARCH 11: A general view of American Airlines Arena after the game between the Miami Heat and the Charlotte Hornets on March 11, 2020 in Miami, Florida. The NBA announced the season has been suspended after a Utah Jazz player preliminary tested positive for the coronavirus. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
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Following the indefinite suspension of the NBA and its uncertainty of return due to the coronavirus outbreak, there could be a new postseason approach.

The development of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has raised questions on how the rest of the NBA season could play out. The league continues to suffer a shortage of time in its 2019-20 season, so actions could eventually be taken to change the season-ending plans.

As the virus progresses around the United States, the return date of the NBA remains questionable. Other questions surrounding an NBA return include the availability of arenas, fitness of players after being quarantined, health conditions of players, staff, and members of organizations, and offseason plans that feature the NBA Combine, Draft, Summer League, and free agency in 2020. Time is extremely sensitive in this situation.

Adam Silver continues to explore financial implications and different scenarios for finishing the season. As of now, there is little to no belief that the season will be canceled. According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, there is strong encouragement around the league to rescue it.

There are possibilities that the NBA could return in June, July, or even August. However, Dallas Mavericks‘ owner Mark Cuban is optimistic for a return in mid-May. The entire basketball community is hopeful for this, but it’s doubtful considering all the safety implications and logistics, and the fact that the government has extended its social distancing guidelines through April 30th at the earliest.

The Chinese Basketball Association suspended league play in January, and now they plan to resume its season in May according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.

At this point in time with questions still regarding the coronavirus pandemic, there is no certainty when the NBA will resume.

In an interview with ESPN, Adam Silver discusses the many possibilities that the NBA has to consider and mentions a tournament leading into the playoffs as an option that they have talked about.

Nevertheless, it’s clear that the NBA will not resume its season by April 15, the day the regular season was supposed to conclude. A total of 259 regular season games will be postponed, making it extremely difficult for the league to reschedule every single one of those games and finish the regular season.

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Therefore, I believe the NBA could and should cancel the remainder of the regular season and create a variety of “play-in” games that lead directly into the NBA playoffs. The league could come up with a new format that gives contending playoff teams a chance to reach the playoffs in a shorter period of time rather than spending a greater length of time finishing out the regular season.

The option of canceling the rest of the regular season and going straight into the playoffs upon return wouldn’t be fair to contending playoff teams, so implementing play-in games sounds like the fairest and most timely option if the rest of the regular season were to be canceled.

Only the Golden State Warriors have been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, so who knows what could’ve occurred if the rest of the NBA regular season played out or if they do decide to finish it. Due to the shortage of time and urgency to finish the season, the league should give some of the contending playoff teams a chance to reach the 2020 NBA Playoffs by placing and seeding them in play-in games after canceling the remainder of the regular season.

Here’s how this new NBA postseason format could look like:

This new format would benefit the NBA in many different ways. It is a difficult situation for the league, but this postseason format could be the best available option.

Initially, it would save time in hopes of keeping the normal offseason plans in place as well as the future of next season. As mentioned before, time is short-handed for the NBA. It would make the most sense to shorten the season and speed up the process while still granting contending playoff teams an opportunity.

It would also add excitement, thrill, and a playoff atmosphere for more teams. Imagine the hype around the world if more NBA teams are given a chance to fight for a playoff spot and having multiple games being played at the same time.

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Each game would be televised, which would boost fan engagement and create dramatic suspense. However, the biggest advantage to showing all games on live television would be the increase of revenue streams for the NBA. Television rights would generate revenue for the league with eager regional television stations and major networks such as ESPN and TNT willing to pay big bucks to show live basketball at the highest level.

The NBA made a deal to partner with ESPN and TNT to give them their television rights and more through the 2024-25 season, but implementing play-in games could allow them to cash in on more revenue from broadcast rights.

The NCAA recently canceled both the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, meaning no March Madness this year. The NBA could step in and come to an agreement with the TV stations that would usually broadcast March Madness to broadcast the NBA play-in games instead. These channels would include TNT, TBS, and TruTV who are part of Turner Sports.

The NBA has had constant issues and recent declines with fan engagement and revenue from television rights in the past, so this would be an amazing opportunity to pounce on.

The league has lost plenty of revenue this season with the issues surrounding its loss of support from China and the coronavirus pandemic playing a massive role. According to ESPN Senior NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski, the NBA has raised its credit line.

It’s clear that the NBA is losing an enormous amount of money, so it would be refreshing to generate some of that revenue back. Adam Silver has always been creative with generating league revenue and has done an outstanding job staying on top of that.

There could be many benefits that could evolve from this potential postseason format as stated earlier, but there are some challenges involved too.

Unfortunately, this format comes with exclusion. The Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Phoenix Suns, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Warriors would not be included in this postseason format due to their current stance in their conference standings.

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It is unlikely that any of these teams would end up making the NBA Playoffs anyway, but it would still be harsh for someone else to declare that your season is officially over. On the bright side, it would give them more time to focus on analyzing prospects for their lottery pick in the 2020 NBA Draft while ensuring safety for their current players and staff.

Another aspect to consider when creating a new postseason format is that the Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics, and Los Angeles Lakers have already clinched playoff spots, so it would be unfair to place them in play-in games when they have already booked their spots.

As the coronavirus outbreak is being contained, the NBA patiently awaits this season’s return date that will most likely cause a different conclusion to the normal season ending. More data, implications, and professional opinions will arise, but all we can do now is wait for the league to make a decision.

Adam Silver continues to keep a large range of options available for the remainder of the season, but my understanding is that implementing play-in games that lead directly into the playoffs would be the best available option due to the shortage of time and fairness among NBA organizations in this bizarre situation.

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