On Thursday afternoon, the NBA board of governors is expected to ratify a plan that will bring 22 of 30 NBA teams to Orlando to restart the basketball season after more than two months without games (due to the coronavirus pandemic). Among the teams that will be playing at the Walt Disney World Resort is the Washington Wizards. Games are reportedly scheduled to begin on July 31 with a 2020 NBA champion to be crowned in October.
The plan — as reported by ESPN, the Los Angeles Times, and the New York Times citing sources with knowledge of the situation — is a weird and rather complex one. Only teams that are currently within six games of a playoff spot will reportedly be invited to restart the season. The Wizards are five and a half games from the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, meaning they are just making the cut.
Eight regular-season games will be played under the plan, then the league will move into the playoffs. If the ninth seed — which is the Wizards right now — can move within four games of the eighth seed by the end of the regular season, a “play-in tournament” will commence. This means the ninth seed will have to beat the eighth seed twice, double-elimination style, in order to make the playoffs.
If the Wizards can pull all of this off, they’d likely play the Milwaukee Bucks and their reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo (nicknamed the “Greek Freak”) in the first round of the playoffs.
According to reports, the teams will be playing in a stadium without fans at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida — which has been nearly completely closed to tourists since March 15 — where hotels, sports complexes, and amenities are readily available to allow players, and staff to live within a “bubble.” More specifically, they will be playing in the 220-acre ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex within the resort. Completely noncoincidentally, ESPN is one of the NBA’s main broadcasting partners, and Disney owns ESPN.
Of course, there are few potential complications with the plans. The league has yet to fully publicly detail how often players, coaches, and staff will be tested and what will exactly happen if someone does test positive for COVID-19. According to an ESPN source, if a player tests positive for the virus, the league will remove and quarantine the player individually while allowing the rest of the team to play on with increased testing.
But it isn’t just about the players. Between other NBA staff, those that will be needed at the resort, and families, the number in this basketball-playing bubble could reach far beyond a thousand. According to the Los Angeles Times, the NBA will need 15,000 tests in order to meet their own protocols.
In addition, Walt Disney World announced last week that it will be partially reopening to the public on July 11, though attendance will be severely limited and there will be restrictions.
As for the Wizards, their road to play more than a handful of games in Orlando will be tough. They’ve held team Zoom workouts, but the mathematical odds are against them. It’s also looking unlikely that star guard John Wall will be playing in July. Back in December 2018, he suffered an Achilles injury and hasn’t played a professional game of basketball in 18 months.
The NBA governors board meets at 12:30 p.m. Thursday and is expected to approve the plan, according to multiple reports. But for Wizards fans, it’s probably not worth wishing upon a star that the team will be crowned the 2020 NBA champion.
Matt Blitz