We have the start date, and now we have the format.
The NBA is slated to begin its new season Dec. 22, just two months after the 2019 campaign wrapped up.
There weren’t many details regarding the league’s format and structure, but that all changed Tuesday when the NBA announced how things will look.
Here is the format, courtesy of the NBA:
— Each team will play three games against each intraconference opponent (42 total games per team), with each pairing featuring either two home games and one road game or one home game
and two road games. Within each team’s division, the league office has randomly assigned which two opponents will be played twice at home and which two opponents will be played twice on the road.
— All five teams from within a division will play all five teams from one other intraconference division twice at home, and all five teams from the remaining intraconference division twice on the road.
— Each team will play two games against each interconference opponent (30 total games per team), with each pairing featuring one home game and one road game.
— The 2020-21 regular-season schedule will be released in two segments. The schedule for the first half of the season will be released around the start of training camp. The schedule for the Second Half of the season will be released during the latter part of the First Half portion of the schedule. The second half schedule will include the remainder of each team’s 72 games not scheduled in the First Half as well as any games postponed during the First Half that can reasonably be added to the second half schedule.
— The All-Star break is scheduled to take place March 5-10, 2021, between the First Half and Second Half of the regular season.
There also will be a play-in tournament to determine which teams from each conference will represent the seventh and eighth teams in the playoffs.
