NBA to announce schedule for seeding games on Friday

The National Basketball Association and the National Basketball Players Association on Friday formally announced their joint agreement to resume the 2019-20 season.

With that, the NBA added that the schedule for the 22 teams taking part in an eight-game seeding phase will be announced Friday night. ESPN will broadcast an hour-long schedule release show starting at 4 p.m. MST.

The resumption of the season will begin July 30.

The deal between the league and players union involves health guidelines, a format for the resumption of play in Orlando at Disney World and an agreement for collective action to face societal injustices and racism.

Per the agreement, the NBA will use three venues — the Arena, the Fieldhouse and Visa Athletic Center — at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex for eight seeding games per team, potential play-in games and the playoffs.

“We have worked together with the player association to establish a restart plan that prioritizes health and safety, preserves competitive fairness and provides a platform to address social justice issues,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a release.

“We are grateful to our longtime collaborator Disney for its role in playing host and making this return to play possible, and we also thank the public health officials and infectious disease specialists who helped guide the creation of comprehensive medical protocols and protections.”

Here’s how the season will resume: After the eight seeding games for each of the 22 teams, the top seven teams in each conference’s standings will make the playoffs. The eighth place team will make it automatically if it is more than four games ahead of the ninth-seeded squad.

If not, the No. 8 seed will play the No. 9 seed in a play-in tournament that is single elimination for the lower seed and double elimination for the higher seed.

Then, a 16-team playoff will commence in the NBA’s traditional format.

“It has taken true collaboration between the league and the union – special kudos to our Executive Committee and several other team reps – along with the continued support and assistance from medical experts, public health officials and many others,” NBPA executive director Michele Roberts said in a release.

“Additionally, our platform in Orlando presents a unique opportunity to extend the ongoing fight against systemic racism and police brutality in this country. We will continue to work with our players and the League to develop specific plans in Orlando as well as long-term initiatives to bring about real change on these issues.”

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