The NBA and its players will be heading to Orlando, Florida early in July to set up in their “bubble” that will be used to resume the 2019-20 regular season and ultimately crown a league champion.
Games will be played on three different courts at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex.
And when the league returns, we will likely see some changes to the jerseys of some of the sport’s top stars. According to reports, the league has approved a measure that will allow players to replace the last name on their jersey nameplates with a message on social justice.
The English Premier League recently allowed players to do the same when play resumed.
“The NBA and NBPA are planning to allow players to replace the last name on their jerseys with a statement on social justice,” Shams Charania of The Athletic reported on Twitter. “NBPA sent players initial details on the plan tonight, stating it is working with the league and Nike. NBA and the players union have been discussing various ways to allow players to express social justice issues in season restart.”
While there is no exact word on what messages could be shared, mockups show what jerseys could look like with varying messages like “Black Lives Matter,” “Justice For Breonna Taylor,” or the names of other victims of police brutality.
The league will be playing a 22-team format that will include 8 regular-season games and the postseaso. The 8 games would be played in order to determine the playoff seeding. Games are scheduled to take place from July 31 through October 12.
The top eight teams in the Eastern Conference — Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets, and Orlando Magic — would join the Western Conference’s top 8 teams — Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, and Memphis Grizzlies — would make up 16 of the 22 teams.
Joining the current 16 playoff teams would be the New Orleans Pelicans, Portland Trailblazers, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, and Washington Wizards.
Are you ready?
