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The NBA’s regular season was set to conclude next Wednesday, April 15. Of course, the coronavirus forced the league to shut down on the night of March 11. Will the league be able to complete the regular season? That seems very unlikely as teams generally have around 18 games remaining. Some cities may not “reopen” until late summer.
More likely, the NBA will skip right to the postseason if that’s even possible. Again, the thought of having 16 cities hosting games (eight playoff teams in each conference) is likely a pipedream. What has been floated is a postseason tournament in one location – most likely Las Vegas and without any fans in attendance.
That way, the NBA could somewhat keep the players self-quarantined all in one spot. Basketball bettors and the TV networks would take any hoops action at this point, even if the playoff games are played in rather non-descript gyms or even makeshift ballrooms in those empty Vegas resorts. For what it’s worth, executives at Fox Sports recently told advertising executives that they believed sports as a whole could return by late June or early July, and that’s early enough for the NBA to hold some sort of postseason.