NBA rumors

The NBA’s board of governors is expected to convene and approve tomorrow afternoon the league’s plan for a 22-team return in Orlando, as reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

Each of the 22 teams will play eight regular-season games in Orlando for seeding purposes for the playoffs. Joining the 16 current playoff teams will be the New Orleans Pelicans, Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings and San Antonio Spurs in the West and the Washington Wizards in the East.

The eight regular-season games could be followed by a playoff play-in tournament: if the No. 9 seed is more than four games behind, the No. 8 seed will make the conference playoffs. If the No. 9 seed is less than four games back, there will be a play-in tournament. As of now, Washington trails Orlando by 5.5 games in the Eastern Conference, while three teams (New Orleans, Portland, Sacramento) are 3.5 games behind Memphis’ 8th seed in the West.

The return would begin July 31 under the proposal, and a last possible date for Game 7 of the NBA Finals would be Oct. 12, sources told ESPN on Tuesday.

Oklahoma City Thunder owner Clay Bennett delivered an impassioned speech, as reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe, near the end of the NBA’s Board of Governors call on Friday asking for the competitive and financial plights of smaller market teams that could be left out of the resumption of the 2019-2020 season.

The NBA is moving towards a plan of inviting 22 teams to restart the season, but Bennett was wondering if there’s a way to safely bring all 30 teams.

Bennett suggested that nine months without games for some teams could have an impact on developing players, cultivating sponsorships and selling tickets in certain markets. His call was reportedly backed by Philadelphia 76ers’ Josh Harris and Phoenix Suns’ Robert Sarver.

The NBA is moving toward a plan invited 22 teams to start the 19-20 regular season, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe.

Denver Nuggets forward Jerami Grant said he is leaning towards declining his $9.3 million player option for next season.

“I’m definitely not leaning towards picking up the player option,” Grant said. “I feel like I definitely outplayed the $9 million that I’m making each year right now. But at the same time… I’d love to come to a conclusion or something like that with Denver, it just depends what we discuss and negotiate when the time comes.”

In an interview with NBC, Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter has revealed that he heard that some NBA players don’t want to play if there is not a vaccine for COVID-19.

“They said ‘hey, we are not going to play,’ They said that until they find a vaccine, until they find a cure, they are not going to play. I was shocked by those players that don’t want to play. If they don’t play… Those people are All-Star players”, Kanter has said to NBC’s Chris Fosberg, without adding further informations.

In an interview with ESPN, Washington Wizards star Bradley Beal has addressed the rumors that sees him targeted by the Brooklyn Nets to reinforce the duo formed by Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

“It’s not the first time I’ve heard this kind of talk, it’s interesting. To me, I look at it as a sign of respect, that I’ve been doing good things and guys want to play with me. That’s an unbelievable feeling. When you hear that Kyrie and KD want you, that’s amazing. At the same time, you don’t know how much there is to it, or how easy it would be to do. And I’ve put down roots in D.C. I’ve dedicated myself to this town, this community. I love it here, and it would feel great to know I could grind out winning here instead of jumping to another team”, he said.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver and the league office informed the Board of Governors that July 31 is a target date for the return of season, according to Shams Charania.

The NBA discussed four competition scenarios with the Board of Governors:

– 16 teams: Directly to playoffs
– 20 teams: Group/stage play
– 22 teams: Games to determine seeding, play-in tournament for final seed(s)
– 30 teams: 72-game regular season, with play-in tourney (less likely scenario)

Charles Barkley says the NBA is going to finish its 2019-20 season. “We’re gonna make a decision in the next week,” he said on The Paul Finebaum Show on Monday.

“I’m 100 percent sure we’re going to play. I do know this, talking to my bosses at Turner: We’re going to play basketball. It’s either going to be in Florida and Vegas, or just Florida. And they say two to three months. So normally, I get two or three months’ vacation during the summer. That is gonna be gone”, Barkley said.

NBA is considering a non-traditional Playoff first round in order to create more interest among casual fans of the NBA, according to The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor.

Ratings for the first round were down significantly last season, as there were two sweeps and only two series went beyond five games played.

According to New York Times’ Marc Stein, some NBA teams are expecting the NBA Draft to be held in September, and the Free Agency to start as late as October 1st.

This timetable could complicate any transactions between the NBA and European teams, given the ‘restricted’ status of some NBA players willing to return to Europe.

Mark Bartelstein, Bradley Beal’s agent, has decided to make things clear after the recent rumors about the Brooklyn Nets’ interest in his client.

“There are no Beal Sweepstakes and that’s why he re-signed with the Wizards,”  the agent said to Adam Zagoria.

“Brad re-signed with the Wizards because he wanted to stay in Washington and the Wizards wanted to keep him there.”

Before the suspension Beal was the second top scorer of the league, with a career-high 30.5 points per game, plus 4.2 rebounds, 6.1 assist and 1.2 steals.

Around 36-38 referees would be needed to finish out the regular season, a top referee told Tim Bontemps & Brian Windhorst of ESPN. That number takes into account having three refs for an average of eight games to finish out the regular season, as well as extra crews for rest and injury.

Television producers also believe that games could be televised with only five manned cameras; between camera operators and other production crew, 20-25 people would be needed to broadcast games.

A hotel manager also estimated that it would require 300-350 on-site personnel to serve 1,110-1,200 essential NBA personnel should the season resume.

Teams are looking to bypass having players return to their market and instead have them report directly to the NBA’s proposed bubble site, league sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

The NBA told teams in certain markets that they are working to redirect them to the bubble site for the start of training camp. 21 of the league’s practice facilities are currently open. Teams are expected to begin recalling their players around June 1st for training camp.

Executives from Brooklyn, Boston, New York and Toronto were among those who expressed concerns specifically tailored to their market. An example is Raptors’ Kyle Lowry, who is currently working out in his hometown Philadelphia and would have to be quarantined for two weeks should he return to Toronto.

Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie has tweeted that the NBA games are to re-start on July 15th. Dinwiddie has also confirmed the rumor that NBA teams could play 5 games at ‘bubble site’ before the start of the NBA playoffs.

That’s just practice… I heard those last 5 games at bubble site start July 15th. https://t.co/EsF3omehYQ

— Spencer Dinwiddie (@SDinwiddie_25) May 21, 2020

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has held safe, private on-court workouts with some Lakers teammates at a secure location, reports Shams Charania.

Everyone has taken the necessary safety measures, undergoing tests and practising social distancing. Charania added that the same happened between unprecised Los Angeles Clippers players.

According to ESPN, NBA teams are expecting that the league office will issue guidelines around June 1 that will allow franchises to start recalling players who’ve left their markets to return as a first step toward a formal ramp-up for the season’s resumption.

Teams also expect that around June 1 they’ll be allowed to expand workouts that are already underway with in-market players, per Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe.

Orlando’s Disney World is emerging as a ‘clear frontrunner’ for return-to-play site for resuming the NBA season, per Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic.

Orlando has gained significant seriousness among other cites such as Las Vegas.

The New York Knicks are finalizing hiring Walt Perrin as assistant general manager, according to Shams Charania.

Perrin has been the Vice President of Player Personnel for the Utah Jazz.