The NBA has officially announced its new format for the 2020-21 season in addition to its tentative calendar for the upcoming campaign.
Similarly to the 2019-20 season, there will once again be some play-in games for the final playoff spots in both the Eastern and Western Conferences.
With the “NBA Bubble” serving as the stage for this past season’s first-ever postseason play-in tournament, the Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Memphis Grizzlies en route to taking on the eventual NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers in the opening round of the West playoffs.
NBA announces the structure and format for 2021, including play-in tournament for final playoff spots in each conference: pic.twitter.com/XOav79Yvrc
— David Aldridge (@davidaldridgedc) November 18, 2020
While the full season format for the upcoming 2020-21 campaign has been released, the league’s plans for the midway point were also formally unveiled on Tuesday evening. Although there will be an “All-Star break” in 2020-21, there won’t be an actual All-Star Game.
There will be an All-Star break March 5-10, but no All-Star game. The play-in tournament was approved by the BOG. Teams finishing 7-10 in each conference will compete, with the 7th and 8th needing one win, 9th and 10th needing two to reach the playoffs.
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) November 18, 2020
Although things will be a bit different in 2020-21, now is probably the time to try out some new things for the NBA, as it is currently impossible to revert back to the ways of old. With the unprecedented nature of the 2019-20 campaign shuffling things around for the Adam Silver and Co. in a major way, the league has continued to be transparent about all of its plans for the foreseeable future while moving both quickly and safely.
Obviously, the health and safety of the players remain at the forefront of the league’s thought process as the 2019-20 season didn’t end too long ago. Even with eager players and fans ready to get back out there, the NBA being able to find some middle ground in regards to all of these dates for 2020-21 is definitely a rock-solid start to what could be a memorable year for a variety of different reasons.
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