NBA Off Season Timeline

The NBA season official ended on October 11th when the Lakers won the NBA Championship over the Miami Heat. The Orlando bubble was an overwhelming success and went about as well as one could possibly hope for. But now the bubble is over, and all NBA players and staff have left the greatest place on earth and must now deal with what’s next. What will the 2021 NBA season look like? What’s the timeline of events? While we still do not have the answers definitively and with a global pandemic still very much a factor, I’ve parsed through what we know, established what’s already been stated, and what’s likely to happen moving forward.

A Note From Adam Silver

Below is the statement Adam Silver made to Noah Coslov which he shared on his Twitter account.

The line “our goal is to have fans back in our arenas” is telling to me. To do this safely at every single stadium seems like a very tall order. No professional league in America has fans in all stadiums and no league that has allowed fans has been able to do so without major problems. Yes, the NBA has done a fantastic job of playing games safely, but adding fans and traveling across the country and Canada? That seems like a stretch given where North America currently is with COVID 19.

Now they do have a few months to further develop this idea so with that time hopefully live sports in all cities sounds less insane than it does in mid October, but I’m skeptical. They’d either have to be willing to risk a certain amount of health or they’re planning on playing later than I think which means no basketball until March.

NBA Draft Nov.18th

One thing we do know definitively is that the NBA draft is happening on November 18th. There are already combine events happening virtually where players are working out and talking with coaches, executives, and medical staff.

NBA Free Agency: December 1st?

This has been heavily rumored and according to the Athletic, NBA free agency is starting on December 1st. I do believe this date because the NBA has gone on the record to say they’d like Free Agency to begin prior to the start of the new year so starting free agency on December 1st makes sense. Also, doing free agency even during a pandemic is entirely possible. Meetings and conversations can happen via Zoom and a player can come in for a medical clearance through private jets and with as few people as possible. So until more news comes out I’d say a December 1st date sounds plausible.

Season Dates Announced: November 23rd

From here on out all this is speculative. It’s speculation based upon logic and reason, but speculation nonetheless. Before the NBA has stated it wants two months in between when they announce the season and when games are played. So, with that in mind, the earliest date I can see the NBA Season commencing is January 18th. Working backwards that makes an announcement possible on the week of Thanksgiving giving us all something else to be thankful for.

Season Begins: January 18th (MLK Day)

What a perfect day to start the league. Brining back the NBA on a holiday that celebrates the life and activism of one of the most important African-American Men in history seems like a good idea. This gives the NBA a day to start after all holiday festivities, time to organize the schedule, and they can make their recent social justice causes even louder on a day where we all reflect on the change we want to see in the United States.

NBA Playoffs July 4th

No free agency season this July it’s playoff time! This is my guess assuming we have an 82 game season with very few off days. I know the league had bad ratings during the summer playoff run, but honestly this is avoidable given the situation. So I believe the playoffs will begin on July 4th and we’ll end the season in August.

Other Options:

I think we can also see a March start to the year. Maybe a 60 game season with limited capacity stadiums. Hopefully by March a vaccine is here or very close and that could allow people to attend large gatherings in enclosed spaces.

Final Thoughts

Again, minus the NBA draft the rest is speculative, but I imagine I’m either right on the money or very close given the time constraints the NBA has. Hopefully we get more information soon and hopefully we can have a safe 2021 season the way we had a safe 2020 season.