What’s New for the 2020 NBA Postseason

Nearly a month ago, the NBA announced it would have all players, coaches, and staff report to Orlando, Florida to form a bubble city at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex to keep players healthy. Well, you can’t burst this bubble as the NBA has successfully been able to test players and keep them away from the Coronavirus. In what can be considered a success so far, the 2019-2020 NBA champion could be crowned by October. The remaining season and future playoff games have begun and here is a quick run down of what to expect.

First, not all teams have been invited. As the regular season was postponed with only weeks remaining, 22 teams that were in contention for a playoff spot have been invited into the NBA bubble. Several NBA players opted out of the situation for varying reasons, but most of the players reported on July 7 to prepare for resuming the season on July 30. The 22 bubble teams consist of the 16 teams that were in the playoffs, plus 6 teams that were six games or fewer behind the eight seed. The 8 remaining teams have had their season ending prematurely, and will be placed in the NBA lottery along side the 6 Teams that don’t make the playoffs.

Second, NBA bubble players and staff have been consistently tested. They had to go through a 48-Hr quarantine period until they received 2 negative test results. As of now, there have been 0 recorded cases as the bubble teams begin playing against other teams. Any player who tests positive following the season resuming will go through a 14 day period of treatment and isolation until they report 2 negative tests within a 48-Hr period. The NBA also set up a so-called “snitch line” for players to call and provide anonymous tips on anybody who breaks the rules of the NBA bubble. The discipline will range from a fine to suspension and even removal from the bubble. So far, three players have broken the rules resulting in a forced quarantine of 10 days inside the NBA bubble.

Now for the schedule. The NBA season will restart with each team playing 8 “regular season” games to determine playoff seeding. Games will begin July 31 and played every day until NBA Finals end by October 12. Teams won’t be restricted to playing in-conference games and instead will be faced comparable to their remaining schedule. There are no new rules being introduced regarding games being played, unlike the MLB which introduced a slew of new rules for the 2020 season.

All of this is in addition to the previously noted support for the Black Lives Matter movement as the players will have different phrases on the back of their jerseys. With all this, the NBA has done a wonderful job keeping players, coaches, and staff healthy while in their created bubble. Each team has 8 games to get seeded for the payoffs and become the 2020 NBA Champion. With no fans in the stands, everyone will be watching from home and cheering on from a distance.