Basketball fans worldwide rejoiced after the NBA confirmed that it will resume the 2019-20 NBA regular season on July 31. It appears that we have Michael Jordan to thank for the agreed-upon format, per NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.
In a tweet from Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press on Thursday, Silver bared that the league's board took Jordan's advice of bringing back the 22 teams who are still in playoff contention.
Adam Silver says it was Michael Jordan who insisted the NBA playoffs not be "gimmicky" and that the standard postseason comes as close to normal as possible.
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) June 5, 2020
There were plenty of speculations going around as to what route the league will take prior to the NBA's Board of Governors' approval of the new format on Thursday.
Some pundits argued that the league should go straight to the postseason given the tight schedule. Others, meanwhile, wanted the best 16 teams to qualify, regardless of their conference. Several ideas, on the other hand, were just flat out bonkers.
Being the basketball purist that he is, Michael Jordan understandably wanted the league to not stray away from its usual operations even after going through the unprecedented hiatus brought upon by the pandemic.
The league, of course, highly values His Airness' input, given that he is widely considered as the best basketball player to ever lace them up.
Apart from the top 16 teams from the Eastern and Western Conference, there are still six teams who still have a chance to qualify for the playoffs.
The Trail Blazers, Pelicans, Kings, Spurs, and the Suns will get the opportunity to qualify in the West. The Wizards, on the other hand, can still vie for that final slot in the East.
The season is over for the Hornets, Bulls, Knicks, Pistons, Hawks, Cavaliers, Timberwolves, and Warriors.
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