A Look at the Structure for the 2019-20 NBA Playoffs

Published on June 5th, 2020 2:11 am EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


Earlier today, the NBA's owners nearly unanimously approved the plan to restart the NBA season.

The players have been looped into the process by Commissioner Adam Silver, so their affirmative vote is seen as a near-certainty, which means that the NBA season will be a go.

According to reports, the NBA regular season will resume on July 31st following a three-week training camp.

The remainder of the NBA season will take place at Disney World in Florida, where the players will essentially live amongst each other in seclusion.

22 teams will be invited to continue the regular season, including the 16 teams that were in playoff spots when the season was postponed, as well as all of the teams that were within 6 games of a playoff spot.

This means that nine Eastern Conference teams will be taking part in the restart, as well as thirteen Western Conference teams.

The remaining 22 teams will play eight regular season games in order to determine seedings for the playoffs.

If a ninth place team is within 4 games of the eighth place team at the end of the 8 game regular season resumption, the teams will have a "play-in" series.

If the eighth place team wins the play-in game against the ninth place seed, the eight place team will go to the playoffs and the ninth place team will go home.

If the ninth place team wins the play-in game, the two teams play AGAIN, with the ninth place team needing a SECOND victory to enter the playoffs. If the eighth place team wins the first OR second game, they are in, while the ninth place team will have to win two games.

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After that, the playoffs will resume as per usual, with the same series and seeding structures.

The champion will be crowned no later than October 12th, with training camps getting underway less than a month later.

The Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers are the early favourites to win the NBA title this year.