The NBA is coming back: Dates, locations, who’s sitting out and how to watch basketball’s 2020 return – CNET

After the coronavirus shut down the NBA season along with everything else, basketball is finally set to return on July 30 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, inside Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Negotiations between the league and the NBA Players Association resulted in a new deal that will allow play to resume after a hiatus of nearly five months, but the final pro basketball games of 2020 will be unlike any previous year. 

The best 22 of the league’s 30 teams will play eight games to finish the regular season. From these, the top seven teams in each conference will advance, with the final eighth seed in each conference being determined by a potential play-in tournament before the traditional 16-team playoffs. Even though the Walt Disney World theme park itself plans to open July 11, social distancing requirements means that fans will not be in attendance for any of the NBA games.

There is still a lot to be sorted before tip-off, but here’s everything we know so far about the NBA’s eagerly awaited return. 

When does the season resume? 

The NBA is set to resume play on July 30 with a doubleheader on TNT featuring the Jazz and Pelicans at 6:30 p.m. ET (3:30 p.m. PT) followed by the Clippers versus the Lakers at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT). 

Each of the invited teams will play eight regular-season games to both figure out seeding and get ready for the playoffs. The exact schedule for each of the teams can be found on NBA.com. 

Teams are expected to arrive in Florida on either July 7, 8 or 9, according to NBA.com. The seeding games will end on Aug. 14, with any play-in games taking place on Aug. 15 and 16. 

When do the playoffs start? 

The playoffs will begin on Aug. 17. Game 7 of the NBA Finals will take place, if necessary, no later than Oct. 13. 

Which teams are in? 

The 22 teams invited to Orlando for the restart includes the 16 teams that would currently qualify for the playoffs, plus six teams that are six games or fewer from the eighth and final playoff seed in their respective conferences. 

Eastern Conference

• Milwaukee Bucks
• Toronto Raptors
• Boston Celtics
• Miami Heat
• Indiana Pacers
• Philadelphia 76ers
• Brooklyn Nets
• Orlando Magic
• Washington Wizards

Western Conference

• Los Angeles Lakers
• Los Angeles Clippers
• Denver Nuggets
• Utah Jazz
• Oklahoma City Thunder
• Houston Rockets
• Dallas Mavericks
• Memphis Grizzlies
• Portland Trail Blazers
• New Orleans Pelicans
• Sacramento Kings
• San Antonio Spurs
• Phoenix Suns

The other remaining eight teams are all done for the year and can begin prepping for the offseason and NBA Draft, which will be held on Oct. 16. Better luck next year, Knicks fans. 

Which players are sitting out? 

Whether it’s from injury, positive COVID-19 tests or any other reason, like a concern about getting hurt or catching the coronavirus, there are a number of notable players sitting out the restart. Here are a few, as of July 9. 

• Kevin Durant (Brooklyn Nets)
• Kyrie Irving (Brooklyn Nets)
• DeAndre Jordan (Brooklyn Nets)
• Taurean Prince (Brooklyn Nets)
• Spencer Dinwiddie (Brooklyn Nets)
• Wilson Chandler (Brooklyn Nets)
• Victor Oladipo (Indiana Pacers) 
• LaMarcus Aldrige (San Antonio Spurs) 
• Bojan Bogdanovic (Utah Jazz)
  
  
• Willie Cauley-Stein (Dallas Mavericks)
• Avery Bradley (Los Angeles Lakers)
• Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards)
• Davis Bertans (Washington Wizards)
• Thabo Sefolosha (Houston Rockets)
• Trevor Ariza (Portland Trail Blazers)

Among the players listed, Jordan, Prince and Dinwiddie all recently tested positive for the coronavirus. 

How does the play-in tournament work?

Here’s how this would all go down, according to an FAQ posted on NBA.com:

“If the team with the eighth-best record in its conference is more than four games ahead of the team with the ninth-best record in the same conference, no play-in tournament would be necessary. The final playoff berth would simply go to the team with the eighth-best record (regular-season games plus seeding games)” in that respective conference. 

But, the site continues, “if the team with the eighth-best record in its conference is four games or fewer ahead of the team with the ninth-best record in the same conference, then we’ll have a battle for the final spot between those two teams.

“The tournament [would] basically be a best-of-two series — where the No. 9 seed would have to win two head-to-head matchups to take over the No. 8 spot.” 

Where will the games be held? 

The NBA is using three different venues on the ESPN Wide World of Sports campus: The HP Field House, Visa Athletic Center and a site Disney calls “The Arena.”

The HP Field House has been previously used to host an NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament called the Orlando Invitational. Its next tournament — featuring the likes of Auburn, Michigan State and Gonzaga — is currently set to run Thanksgiving weekend.

Where will the players stay? What will they do when not playing? 

The players, team staff and their personnel and families will be divided across three different Disney properties: Grand Destino, Grand Floridian and Yacht Club. 

The hotels are being sorted by team standings with top seeds like the Bucks, Lakers, Raptors and Clippers staying at the Grand Destino, which opened last year. Teams that are on the playoff bubble — like the Blazers, Kings and Pelicans — are staying at Disney’s Yacht Club. 

As Stadium and The Athletic’s Shams Charania notes, when not playing players will be able to attend other games, go to movie screenings and play video games, plus take advantage of pools, trails, barbers, manicurists and pedicurists.

Ping-pong will also be available, but just singles games. Doubles are not allowed in order to maintain social distancing, as pointed out by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. 

How can I watch the NBA’s restart on TV?

Exact details for how to watch the games has not yet been released, though you can expect that Disney-owned ABC and ESPN will be broadcasting games (with ABC broadcasting the NBA Finals). ESPN was previously announced as the exclusive TV network for the 2020 Eastern Conference Finals. 

AT&T-owned Turner Sports, which runs TNT and “jointly” manages the league’s NBA Digital division that includes NBA TV, will also be broadcasting games. The network is a close NBA partner and broadcasts several regular-season games weekly as well as the bulk of playoff games. TNT was previously announced as the exclusive TV network for the 2020 Western Conference Finals. 

Beyond the July 30 TNT doubleheader the NBA has put out its national television schedule for the restart, with games on ABC, ESPN, TNT and NBA TV. 

Regional sports networks like local Fox Sports channels, the YES Network (Brooklyn Nets) or Spectrum SportsNet (Los Angeles Lakers) will likely be involved as well, particularly when it comes to carrying the eight regular-season games. Details are still unknown and it isn’t clear whether those games will be able to be streamed over NBA League Pass, the NBA’s paid streaming service. 

You don’t need cable or satellite TV to watch the games on ESPN or TNT. Most of the channels are offered on four of the major live TV streaming services, though not all streaming services offer ABC, TNT and NBA TV.