The NBA is coming back after a long break

One of the aftermaths of the spread of COVID-19 has been the shutting down of the season for almost every sport. And the NBA was no exception. The stars along with their loyal fans didn’t take the past couple of months very well as they have all been deprived of doing what they love doing the most. They had to put their normal life aside and wait until the situation got more or less stable and the thing they all hated the most about it was that the situation itself was completely out of their control.

The fans who have been deprived of actual games didn’t have many alternatives but one. And that was playing or watching online sports games, digital games, and using online casino slots as a distraction and a way to pass time until their favorite teams got back on the court. There are hundreds of online casino slots that are centered around the NBA and that has been the perfect solution for all the basketball fans. At the same time, there are also games for all sorts of different sports and the popularity of such games is only getting bigger and bigger. And it looks like the long-awaited moment is finally here.

Basketball is finally set to return on July 30 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, inside Disney World in Orlando, Florida. There have been negotiations happening between the NBA Players Association and the league and these negotiations resulted in a new deal that will allow play to resume after a beak of nearly five whole months and the final pro basketball games of 2020 will be unlike any previous year.

According to the news, the best 22 of the league’s 30 teams will play eight games to finish the regular season. 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. 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. But that definitely doesn’t mean they won’t be able to watch and enjoy them. Exact details for how to watch the games have not yet been released, though you can expect that Disney-owned ABC and ESPN will be broadcasting games.

The comeback of the NBA is set to take place on July 30 with a doubleheader on TNT featuring the Jazz and Pelicans at 6:30 p.m. ET which will be followed by the Clippers versus the Lakers at 9 p.m. ET. Every single one of the invited teams will get to play eight regular-season games to both figure out seeding and get ready for the playoffs. And the actual teams are expected to arrive in Florida on either July 7, 8, or 9 according to the information published by the NBA. The seeding games are also set to end on August 14 with all the Play-in games taking place on August 15 and 16. But there might not even be a necessity for play-in games at all. 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 according to the NBA. The playoffs will start on August 17 and the last game, game 7 of the NBA finals will take place if necessary no later than October 13.

Another important thing that needs to be mentioned is that 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. A lot of these players are from Brooklyn Nets and the list includes Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, DeAndre Jordan, Taurean Prince, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Wilson Chandler.

While there are still some things that need to be clarified and taken care of one thing is for sure, the NBA is coming back and doing all it can to find a balance between making the games as exciting as they once were and following all the safety guidelines. And so far, they have been very successful at doing that.