Bill Simmons, The Ringer CEO, explained one of the scenarios the NBA is studying to resume action in the summer. Simmons joined ‘The Mismatch’ podcast to provide some insights on what the association would do to restart the season at some point in the summer.
Talking with Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor, Simmons revealed the most likely scenario right now is a 12-team playoff system, with the top 6 teams from each conference for two months, starting in July. The top two seeds in each conference will get byes in the first round, which means the matchups in the first round would consist of 3-6 and 4-5 matchups.
The NBA suspended the season last month after Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, following the steps of every major sports competition in the world. They’ve been trying to find alternatives and solutions to this issue, and according to Simmons, they’ve apparently found one.
Simmons then added that the 16-team playoffs can still happen, but they need to sort some things out before. Regardless of the location for this hypothetical tournament, the league wants to bring the least number of people.
O’Connor mentioned that they have a ‘bubble idea’ and the only thing left to decide was the venue of the tournament. He talked about Disney World and the hotel infrastructure they have, and it’s not a big city like Los Angeles or Las Vegas.
Talking about the possibility of playing some game from the regular season, Simmons said that’s not happening.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said they won’t be making any decision until May 1, as they don’t have enough tools to know if it’s ok to restart the season, wait a little more, or cancel the season altogether.
