The NBA is considering moving all 30 of the league’s team to a single city — the Boston Celtics included — along with a variety of postseason scenarios to resume the suspended 2019-20 season this summer, reports the New York Post’s Marc Berman.
The postseason would be without live spectators to minimize risk of transmitting the virus behind the pandemic, and would include a normal, 16-team field for the postseason.
How the structure of how that postseason would be organized, however, is still very much up for debate, according to Berman’s industry sources.
Las Vegas with nearby UNLV is reportedly a top option, and Atlantic City, Hawaii, Orlando, Louisville and the Bahamas all in consideration as well.
“[The NBA is] very determined to have a champion,” one anonymous source was quoted as saying; “[n]othing is off the table,” added another.
There is hope the league will be able to have a truncated resumption of the regular season as a warm-up, though it’s likely only a handful of games would be played before the start of the postseason.
The playoff format may be a best-of-three structure if the normal or best-of-five options prove unfeasible. Berman reports a single-elimination format, while on the table, would only be used as a last resort.
The Post reporter also relates a best-case scenario of a late June/early July resumption of activities, and the following season starting late, around Christmas.
