Recap
The 2019–20 NBA season was the 74th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The regular season began on October 22, 2019, and originally was supposed to end on April 15, 2020. However, the season was suspended on March 11 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 NBA All-Star Game was played on February 16, at the United Center in Chicago, and was won by Team LeBron, 157–155. The playoffs were originally scheduled to begin on April 18, and end with the NBA Finals in June. At the time of the suspension, teams had played between 63 and 67 games.
On March 11, 2020, the game between the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder was abruptly postponed shortly before tipoff after it was discovered that Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. That same evening, the game between the New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings was also postponed last minute once it was discovered that a referee for the game, Courtney Kirkland, had worked a Utah Jazz game just two days prior. Kirkland later tested negative for COVID-19. The NBA then suspended the remainder of the 2019–20 season "until further notice" following the completion of games already underway. This was the first time a regular season had been interrupted since the 2011 NBA lockout. The following day, Gobert's teammate Donovan Mitchell also tested positive. On March 14, Detroit Pistons forward Christian Wood became the third NBA player to test positive for the virus, and the first outside of the Jazz. On March 17, four Brooklyn Nets players, including superstar Kevin Durant, tested positive for the virus. On March 19, two players for the Los Angeles Lakers, as well as Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics, tested positive for COVID-19. All players recovered and were cleared by local health officials.
On May 23, it was announced that the NBA were in negotiations with The Walt Disney Company about the possibility to finish the season at Walt Disney World's ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando. On May 29, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and the league office informed Board of Governors that July 31 was the target date for a season return.
On June 4, the NBA Board of Governors approved a plan to restart the season on July 31 in Orlando. Under this plan, 13 Western Conference teams and nine Eastern Conference teams, all clubs within six games of a playoff spot, would play eight regular-season "seeding" games. A possible play-in tournament for the eighth seed in each conference would then be held if the ninth seed finishes the regular season within four games of the eighth seed
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