March 11, before the game between the Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Pelicans, was postponed at the last minute after it was discovered that the referee had worked during a Jazz game two days ago. Since then, the season has been suspended until further notice after the completion of games already in progress.
This is the first time a regular season has been suspended since the NBA lockout in 2011.
On May 23, it was announced that the NBA was negotiating with Disney about ending the season at the Walt Disney World Sports Complex in Orlando. On May 29, Adam Silver informed us that July 31 is the target date for a return to the season.
On June 4, the NBA Board of Governors approved a plan to restart the season on July 31 in Orlando. According to the plan, 13 Western Conference and nine Eastern Conference teams, all within six games of a playoff spot, play eight "standings" games in the regular season. Qualifying games for the eighth seed in each conference will or if the ninth seed finishes the regular season within four games of the eighth seed. Then a potential Game 7 of the Finals is scheduled for October 13.
The Warriors, Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Minnesota Timberwolves, and New York Knicks were not invited because of their record losses.
The NBA and the players' association have established a restart plan that prioritizes health and safety and keeps the competition fair. The negotiations focused on health measures with a rigorous protocol intended to be as safe as possible for the players and all the actors who will participate directly or indirectly in this long-awaited recovery.
But it will not be without sacrifice.
"I can only say that it may not be for everyone. It will involve huge sacrifices for the players and everyone involved, coaches, referees... that I don't want to sugarcoat," he told ESPN.
"If a player chooses not to come, it will not be a breach of his contract. We accept that" he continued, immediately maintaining the position of the league, which has said from the beginning that it would tolerate the absences of players pleading health or other reasons.
The training camps will take place from 9 to 11 July. Scrimmages will take place from July 22 to 28. And the rest of the season from July 30 to October 12. The lottery project will be on August 20, and the agency will be free from October 18. Training camp for the 2020-21 season will occur on November 10, and the NBA 20 Draft will occur on November 18.
The 2020-21 season will begin on December 22.
On June 16, 2020, the NBA released a medical protocol to be used during the season restart in the NBA Bubble at Walt Disney World to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches, officials, and staff.[71][72] This included regular testing for COVID-19 before and throughout the season restart, wearing a face covering or mask, and social distancing to prevent an outbreak of COVID-19 from occurring. Players and coaches deemed "high-risk individuals" by their team, or players who had already suffered season-ending injuries before season suspension, were not permitted to play and did not lose any salary. Any medically cleared player could also decline participation, losing their corresponding paychecks.
Phase 1 of the plan ran from June 16 to 22, consisting of players traveling back to the home cities of their respective teams. In Phase 2, from June 23 to June 30, COVID-19 tests began being administered to players every other day.
On June 26, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association announced that 16 out of 302 players had tested positive for COVID-19 in the first wave of mandatory testing. Three Kings players tested positive; Buddy Hield, Jabari Parker, and his friend Alex Len.
In Phase 3, from July 1 to July 11, mandatory individual workouts were conducted at team facilities, but group workouts were prohibited.
Phase 4 ran from July 7 to July 21, consisting of the teams traveling to Disney World and conducting practices. Any player who tested positive in the previous phases could only travel once medically cleared. Once teams arrived in Orlando, players and staff were isolated in their rooms, requiring to pass two polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests 24 hours apart before being let out of this quarantine. They were still regularly tested for COVID-19 afterward. A player who tried positive would be isolated and re-tested in case of a false positive; if COVID-19 were confirmed, he would be quarantined for at least 14 days to recover.
(The rookie season will be over in 5 chapters. I decided to keep Fox so Haliburton will not be drafted, and an NBA legend will appear as the Kings' coach after the second season, during the 2021-22 season.)