Representatives of the NBA players’ union will vote this Thursday or Friday on a 72-game schedule for the 2020/21 season that will begin on December 22 of this year, as revealed by Los Angeles Lakers forward Jared Dudley.
Last season’s ‘NBA Finals’, which ended last October due to the coronavirus pandemic, will force the draft to be delayed to November 18. The proposal includes a very compact calendar but with shorter trips to avoid COVID-19 infections and minimize fatigue.
The proposal also includes an entry tournament for those classified between seventh and 10th in each conference, which will involve more teams in the race for the play-offs and could be adopted by the league in future seasons.
However, the proposal to be approved by the union this week does not satisfy all NBA players. There is a group that prefers to start the new season on January 17, which would require a shorter regular season or an extension of the playoffs until the end of August.
However, the NBA estimates that a start in December could generate substantially more revenue for television partners because it gives them the lucrative list of Christmas games and avoids any overlap with the Tokyo Olympics, which would be set on kick-off dates. the season on January 17.
“Players will vote for it, but to be honest with you, there is no real vote,” Lakers’ Dudley told Siriusxm NBA Radio. “Nobody is playing 55 games. We have to play 72. It is a question of money, so most likely we will start on the 22nd,” he revealed.
