The NBA is pursuing a pre-Christmas Day start and a reduced regular-season calendar for the 2020-2021 campaign, abandoning plans to delay the opening with hopes of incorporating fans back into arenas, sources told ESPN.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the NBA is proposing several variations to next season that include a 72-game regular season, a play-in tournament and the likelihood of no All-Star Game or All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis, sources said.
The league is contemplating a two-week break at the midway point of the season, sources said.
The NBA shared these plans in a call with the league's board of governors on Friday afternoon, and the league plans to move quickly to complete negotiations with the National Basketball Players Association to implement the plan, sources said.
The reduction in regular-season games -- which would help accommodate a play-in tournament format for both conferences -- lets the NBA to finish the season before the Summer Olympics in Japan.
A pre-Christmas start also allows the NBA's television partners -- ESPN and Turner -- to further realize the value of broadcast partnerships.
As the coronavirus continues to rage across the country, the NBA strongly prefers to stay out of a bubble format and continues discussing travel and game schedules that would keep teams in a marketplace longer and playing multiple games, similar to Major League Baseball series, sources said.
Oct. 30 is setting up to be a key date. The NBA and NBPA agreed that day would be the deadline to complete ongoing discussions on modifications to the collective bargaining agreement for the 2020-21 season, a deadline date that requires the league or union to provide 45 days notice if either decides to terminate the CBA -- a scenario that sources continue to believe is a remote probability.
