Giannis Antetokounmpo (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)
When the NBA suspended its season on March 11 because of the coronavirus, the Milwaukee Bucks held the best record in the league. Moving forward, it was uncertain that they would have the opportunity to see it through and compete for an NBA title. Now it appears they might get that chance.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the NBA has told the National Basketball Players Association that it will present a 22-team plan for restarting the season to the league’s board of governors on Thursday.
The 22-team format will start with an eight game schedule to help seed the teams for the playoffs.
The Western Conference would have 13 teams going to the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex near Orlando. The Eastern Conference would have nine.
In the West, Memphis, New Orleans, Portland, San Antonio, Sacramento and Phoenix would still have a mathematical chance of earning a spot in a play-in series. In the East, Washington would have to close to within four games of Orlando or Brooklyn to trigger a play-in series on that side of the bracket.