NBA Announces Format for 2021-22 Season

The NBA has officially announced a new structure in format for the 2021-22 NBA regular season. According to a press release, the regular season is set to begin on Dec. 22 and each team will play 72 games.

Along with this announcement, the league states that there will be a play in tournament that will decide the seventh and eight seed for each conference. This format is similar to the one seen last season at the NBA bubble in Orlando.

According to a tv interview with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, the NBA will not operate in a bubble like it did at the restart of last season in Orlando.

“Unlike what we did in Orlando, we are going back to our team’s cities playing in arenas,” said Silver. “We just have to start and see where it takes us.”

The NBA posted on their website some of the safety protocols that will used for the upcoming season. According to the protocols, every player and staff member will be required to take a Covid-19 test everyday starting on Dec. 1 and will continue to going forward.

The league also doesn’t expect to cancel or postpone the season if players and staff start to get Covid-19. The league will monitor the number of cases in the league and will do whatever is necessary to keep the number of cases low.

In the protocols, the league outlines what will happen if a player contracts covid-19 and the steps necessary to return to play. Any player who tests positive must stay at home for a minimum of 10 days and is not allowed back into team facilities until he or she tests negative.

Mark Karrels, is a big Wisconsin sports fan and is excited for the return of college and NBA basketball. “I can’t wait to watch the Bucks and Badgers play again, even if it’s not in person and just on television,” said Karrels.

According to the NBA, the only teams that will not be playing in their home arena will be the Toronto Raptors, due to Canada’s strict Covid-19 restrictions. The Raptors will start their season in Tampa, Fla. The league is unsure if the Raptors will eventually be allowed to play in Toronto sometime later this season.

The league formally announced the schedule for only the first half of their 2021-22 regular season. The league stated that they will announce the second half of the schedule towards the end of the first half of the season in case games need to be rescheduled.

Luis Antonio is a Wisconsin resident and a big fan of basketball and is saddened that he will not be able to see his team play this year. “I just wish they could figure out some way to have fans back at games again, said Antonio. “I just want to go out and support my teams again.”

The NBA said that it is up to individual teams to decide whether or not fans should be allowed to come to games. The league suggests this is due to every city and state having different types of Covid-19 restrictions.

The Milwaukee Bucks announced late in November that there will no fans allowed at Fiserv Forum until further notice, due to state and local restrictions. The Bucks are continuing to work with local state officials to see if fans could eventually be brought back sometime later in the season.

The Milwaukee Bucks are not the only team that will not be having fans for the upcoming 2021-22 regular season. Teams such as the Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and Detroit Pistons have all announced that they will not have fans for the regular season due to local covid-19 restrictions.

The Orlando Magic announced in a statement that they will have limited amounts of fans at their home games. According to the statement there will be around 4,000 fans allowed in the stadium and everyone must socially distance and wear masks. The team also announced new preventative measures such as constant disinfecting high traffic areas and pre-arrival symptom surveys for attending fans. The team is going as far as requiring fans that are seated close to the players to be tested for Covid-19 prior to the game.

The league is still expected to play their all-star game which is scheduled to begin during the first week of March.