Adrian Wojnarowski is a patron of NBA information. His tweets regarding the suspension of the NBA season due to the COVID-19 pandemic spreading across the world and notes from the board of governor’s meetings in the meantime have given NBA fans reason to be encouraged and scared. The latest estimates as to the return of the NBA season are mid-June, seemingly at the earliest. The NBA has its fair share of summer viewership with the NBA Summer League, and even the WNBA that they have continually invested. The NBA cannot go on as usual, and it is time for the NBA to get crazy.
The NBA has continually discussed changes to the schedule, with shortened regular seasons, second tournaments, and play-ins to the playoffs. This NBA season is a perfect chance for a trial of something new.
First, a short training camp. With the G-League season likely canceled, allow teams to carry two-way players throughout the rest of this segmented season and give NBA teams a chance to better evaluate not only their players but the players on other teams as well. Training camp is necessary to make sure all players are still in game shape, and to assure that injuries will not be a problem coming off so much rest.
This rest period will be a blessing in disguise for the NBA. Much discussion has been made about NBA ratings this season. The NBA has been hurt by injuries to major star players; Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Kyrie Irving, Blake Griffin, and Victor Oladipo. Even the pushed-back debut of Zion Williamson was a huge part of the discussion with the New Orleans Pelicans, frequenting national television audiences.
Many teams that will benefit from injured players receiving a “pause” on the season are teams fighting for playoff spots or at the lower half of their conference playoffs.
In the Western Conference, Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins of the Portland Trailblazers were already looking to return to play soon, and they will undoubtedly be ready to shore up the Blazers’ troubles inside. The Sacramento Kings have surged lately, but the addition of Marvin Bagley III may make them a more significant threat to fight for a playoff spot. Young San Antonio Spurs Jakob Poeltl and Dejounte Murray were recently struck by the injury bug and will undoubtedly help the Spurs as they scratch and claw for their record-23rd straight playoff appearance. The Suns may be too far out, but they have looked more and more like a competent basketball team this season, and finishing the season off with Kelly Oubre, Jr. may lead to more success in the coming summer. The Memphis Grizzlies are fighting to hold on, and the addition of Justise Winslow, Jaren Jackson, Jr, and Brandon Clarke will boost those chances as the Pelicans look to add more shooting with the return of JJ Redick and continue his personal playoff streak.
In the Eastern Conference, the Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets, and Orlando Magic are pretty firmly in the playoffs despite the competition seen in the West. Oladipo struggled in his return and will have a higher chance of affecting games with the extra rest. The 76ers have one injury-prone star in Joel Embiid and one who is currently sidelined for injury in Ben Simmons, and rest will make them a better team for the playoffs. The Nets are unlikely to ask their star players to play as they continue long rehabs that were scheduled through the end of the season, but their return would be a reinvigoration for the season that could lead to a big playoff upset. Even the oft-mediocre Magic in the playoffs with a sub-.500 record could return their best defender and rising young star Jonathan Isaac from a bruised knee with the extra rest. This extra rest cannot be taken for granted and needs to be capitalized on for the postseason.
To take advantage of the rested players, the NBA cannot continue the season where they left off. A new schedule is necessary, and the NBA should balance calendars by scheduling each team to get to 72 games using only games that were left on their remaining schedule. This would be roughly seven or eight games per team, and playing those games over a three-week period would allow a feeling of completion to the NBA regular season. After that is the fun part.
Try out the play-in round that has been discussed frequently by the board of governors. Have one round of best-of-three between the seventh and 10th seed and the eighth and ninth seed of each conference. Next, have the first and second rounds be best-of-five. The once-beloved playoff format that churned out upsets at a higher rate than the current best-of-seven model would allow teams to balance out the seedings that may have been different if the players that are healthy for the postseason were healthy throughout the regular season. Allow the teams to settle who the best teams are.
Finally, the Conference Finals and NBA Finals. Assuming the NBA has resumed because of the lack of threat of COVID-19 in condensed areas, the NBA should centralize each final by having them in one spot. For example, host the West finals in Las Vegas and the East Finals in New York City and host the NBA Finals in the conference final city of the Finals team with a better record, i.e., in New York City for Bucks-Lakers because the Bucks had a better regular-season record. This will allow the NBA to have the conferences and meetings that they will miss out on without the gathering of teams at the Las Vegas Summer League.
Regardless of how the NBA adapts to the global pandemic that has already made its presence felt, they should collaborate with the players to create a playoff format that can give more teams a chance as the presumably shortened regular season may have taken it away. While some of my suggestions are crazier than the NBA would ever even consider, I think the NBA has a chance to make something special out of a horrible situation larger than sports.