The NBA announced on Tuesday evening the structure and formula for the 2020-2021 season calendar, including a tournament to establish which teams will place seventh and eighth in the playoffs, East and West.
The circuit’s 75th season kicks off on December 22, and each team will play 72 games. Each club will face each Association rival three times (for 42 matches per team). Each competition will include two matches in the same city and the other with the opponent, or vice versa.
The five clubs in each section will play each rival in a section in the same geographic area twice at home, and the five clubs in the other intra-East or intra-West section twice abroad.
Each team will face each club from the other geographic half twice: one meeting at home and the other abroad. This adds 30 games per club, for a total of 72.
The calendar will be published in two stages: the first half around the start of the camps, and the other half towards the end of the first portion.
This second part could include games that would have been postponed earlier in the schedule, as far as is reasonable. A star break is scheduled for March 5-10, between the two portions of the calendar.
Earlier Tuesday, the NBA board of governors approved a plan for a ranking tournament. It will take place after the regular season and before the first round of the playoffs, pitting clubs in ranks seven to ten for win rate, in the East and the West.
The teams ranked seven and eight on each side will each have two chances to earn a win leading them to the playoffs. The teams ranked nine and 10 will each have to win two games in a row to advance to the playoffs.
At the end of the regular season, Team 7 on each side will host Team 8, with seventh place in the playoffs at stake.
Team 9 will host Team 10, with a game on the line in Losers’ City 7-8 to clinch eighth place in the playoffs.
