The NBA is progressing toward a return.
Commissioner Adam Silver and the league informed the Board of Governors that they have set the target return date as July 31, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
In two months, there could be real basketball.
That’s just a target date, so nothing is official. There’s plenty of time for the league to change course. But as of now, the announcement is the biggest step toward resumption of play since the league was halted March 11.
Silver is still considering how best to proceed. The general manager survey returned with 53% of the league preferring to jump straight into playoffs, according to Charania — maybe not coincidentally, that means 16 teams voted to start with playoffs — and 27% wanted to resume the season with a play-in tournament.
Over the next two months, the league expects to make its plans official while players and teams begin to prepare more earnestly for the end of the season.
Silver’s decision on how many teams to call back with dictate whether Golden State has another game or is done for the year.
