Jenfrin Rodriguez
Sports Editor
The NBA season ended on October 10, 2020 after the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Miami Heat in game six of the NBA finals to win their 17th championship in the franchise’s history. Fans and players alike won’t get the usual two-month offseason before training camp starts. The upcoming season is set to be the shortest offseason in the history of the NBA as the official date for the start of the regular season set for December 22, 2020. 73 days is all the time given before the grind starts all over again. Means to alleviate the load from players are being taken as the season is being shortened by 10 games to reduce the total from 82 games to 72 games. The amount of back to back games has been lowered by over three per team to give the players more time to rest. In addition, with the NBA draft set for later this month on the 18, the days are flying by at a fast pace. Executives have been trying to reach an agreement among when free agency should begin.
Originally, dates have been thrown out like having free agency begin on the same night as the draft and the consensus was no despite support from some owners. The reason for this being that it would become too much for teams to handle. The amount of thought that goes into draft night alone is enough, trying to manage your picks, predict other teams picks, listen to trade offers and make deals for picks is already a handful and some teams even struggle with that aspect already. Now if teams had to worry about resigning current players, sign other players, try to clear cap space and deal with that on top it would put too much stress on teams and mistakes would be bound to happen.
December 1 is the start of training camp for teams and trying to incorporate and accommodate new players into a team’s environment is going to be a challenge to say the least. As the return date gets closer it is going to be interesting to see how the Commissioner Adam Silver handles uncharted territory in these uncertain times. Adam Silver received praise from many in how he handled the past season amidst the pandemic with the bubble in Orlando. Fans and players can rest assured that he is going to do everything in his power to make the season go as smoothly as possible.
The upcoming season is going to have a lot of teams to keep their eyes on this season. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving will be returning from injuries to the Brooklyn Nets whom many are calling the best team in the Eastern Conference. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson are also coming back from injury this year and on a mission to remind everyone of how great they truly are. Other notables coming back from injuries are John Wall of the Washington Wizards, Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers and Kristaps Porzingis of the Dallas Mavericks. Aside from those teams, the usual powerhouses, the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks will be relevant again this season as they hope to win a title.