The NBA’s Board of Governors has agreed and approved a 22-team finish to the season in Orlando, Florida, with a 29-1 vote, according to multiple reports. The Portland Trail Blazers, currently in 9th place in the West, were the lone team to vote against the format, which calls for 22 teams to play eight regular season games before heading to an East vs. West playoff.
A play-in tournament where the 8th-seed needs to be beaten twice by the 9th place seed, if they are within four games of the 8th seed, while the 9th seed is in a do-or-die scenario. While Portland is currently in 9th place, they only have that by a fraction of a percentage point due to playing more games, with Zion Williamson’s Pelicans right behind them, as well as the Sacramento Kings. Portland also lost the season series to New Orleans 4-0, so the Pelicans have the tiebreaker over them. So those are probably all reasons why they voted against it.
Nevertheless, barring a change in course from the Player’s Association and their leader Chris Paul, the NBA will be back starting on July 31st.
