Reports: NBA sets July 31 return date, most GMs want playoffs only

In the wake of the NBA league office’s conference calls with team GMs on Thursday and owners on Friday, reports emerged of what the league’s eventual return from its COVID-19 hiatus might look like.

Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stated July 31 as a target date for the return of the 2019-20 season, which has been suspended since March 12.

Meanwhile, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps reports that 16 of 30 general managers have expressed a preference of advancing straight to the playoffs upon the league’s return, rather than playing any regular-season games.

Teams and seedings would be based on the standings when the season was suspended in March, which would have Houston as the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference and ticketed for a first-round matchup with No. 3 Denver. The Rockets (40-24) and Nuggets (43-22) split their four regular-season meetings, with the home team winning each game.

New ESPN story: In a survey of all 30 NBA general managers, a majority told Adam Silver they preferred going straight to the playoffs and keeping the same East-West format. https://t.co/XXU3LaCdxV

— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) May 29, 2020

None of those games occurred after Houston’s switch to a smaller lineup in February, and it remains to be seen how the small-ball Rockets would matchup with Nikola Jokic and the larger Nuggets.

However, while the preferences of team executives are now known following the league’s survey, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski says Silver is still expected to have latitude to make the final decision on format in conjunction with the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA).

As hard as owners and teams are pushing for proposals rooted in some level of self-interest, there's still a sense they'll give Silver the latitude to implement the plan that he lands on with the NBPA. Most expect that'll come inside the next week.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 29, 2020

So even though GMs seem to prefer advancing straight to the playoffs once the season returns in Orlando with the traditional 16-team bracket as it stands today, it’s not a given that Silver will follow their lead. Several expanded playoff models remain in consideration, though 20 of the league’s 30 teams appear to want the field at 20 teams or less.

From the league’s perspective, playing some regular-season games — or expanding the playoffs — could help recoup some of the lost money from not fulfilling their 2019-20 television contracts with local broadcast partners, as well as not generating any ticket revenue in the playoffs.

Due to both injury and illness risks following the multi-month layoff, the NBA now appears unlikely to bring back all 30 teams. Having all 30 clubs under one roof in Orlando would inherently make containment efforts (for the virus) more difficult to maintain, and players on the NBA’s worst teams would have little incentive to work their way back into peak form, since they no longer have any realistic hope of making the playoffs.

Hornets owner Michael Jordan advocated on the call for player safety, and not simply having players return for meaningless games, sources said. Given the NBA is prioritizing health and safety first and foremost, 30 team return is unlikely. https://t.co/03pAvpDPi7

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 29, 2020

Wojnarowski says the expectation is for a finalized plan to be announced within the next week, following the league’s talks with the NBPA.

Silver and NBPA will keep talking on details of a return-to-play proposal. Silver has spent a lot of time listening to factions of teams make cases, but in near future, he'll have to ask owners to get behind a plan that he believes to make the best sense. https://t.co/q9VxHrRSlE

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 29, 2020