This NBA season will be like no other.
We’re coming off the shortest off-season in NBA history. The NBA has planned on having a condensed schedule of 72 games this season.
There’s also something brand new coming to the league this year.
The NBA experimented with it in the bubble and it worked out well, so they decided to look into developing the idea even more and launch it this season.
NBA Playoff Play-in Tournament
This is how the play-in tournament will work;
There will be a “Seven-Eight game” where the seven and eight seeds will play each other and the winner becomes the 7th seed.
Next, there will be a “Nine-Ten game” and the winner of that game has a chance of playing the loser of the “Seven-Eight game” with a chance of receiving that final 8th spot.
These games will be very competitive and fun to watch and it may give your favorite team a chance at making the playoffs even from the 10th seed!
This “tournament” will take place a week before the playoffs start.
I’m very excited to see how the play-in tournament is going to play out. It gives more teams a chance at making it into the playoffs, which in a stacked western conference is good because there are AT LEAST 10 solid teams.
Variables going into next season
- Different Game Experience: As we all saw in the NBA bubble– this year will have a similar game experience. An experience with not many fans packing the arena. This can affect the game in a big way. Some players feed off of the crowd and play better with a crowd. There are also some players that feel more comfortable playing in a crowdless arena. This will also affect home court advantage. Overall, I don’t think it will affect players to a massive degree, but it does change the game.
- COVID Testing: Many players will miss games this year due to testing positive for covid, which could put them out for up to two whole weeks. If a star player tests positive, he misses 6-8 games. This could hurt a team tremendously and if it is a team that is fighting for the playoffs then they could be in trouble.
- Shortened off-season: This will hurt a few teams. The teams/players this will affect are the teams that had a longer playoff run, and those teams with older players. Overall, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal because in reality these players are playing year round anyways. They have to stay in shape. It’s their job. So while some teams may be affected by this, the majority of the teams are ready to get back into action.
Other than that, I can’t think of any other variables that will change the NBA this year.
Cheers to the 2020-21 NBA season!
