According to ESPN’s Senior NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, new details regarding the NBA’s potential return to action have been released. In a tweet that he published Wednesday morning, he reported that each of the 22 games present will play eight games prior to the start of the playoffs, for seeding purposes.
Earlier in the week on Tuesday, Wojnarowski revealed that the league would be proposing a 22 team return to action. This would in part lower the number of teams present in Orlando (thus limiting potential spread of a disease), while still giving “bubble” teams a chance to sneak into the playoffs.
According to Wojnarowski, the six extra teams being proposed to join the top 16 teams in Orlando are Portland, Phoenix, San Antonio, Sacramento, and Washington. The top eight seeds from each conference will make the playoffs, however, if the gap between the eight and nine seed is less than four games, a mini play-in tournament will occur.
For the Philadelphia 76ers specifically, the proposed final eight games actually carry quite a bit of weight when it comes to playoff seeding. The Sixers are currently just two games behind the Miami Heat (fourth seed), and just three and a half games behind the Boston Celtics (third seed). If the team comes out firing in these final regular-season games, they could jump up as many as three spots in the standings.
At the very least, these final eight games will give the Sixers and the Pacers a chance to battle it out for the fifth and sixth seeds. Both teams are currently sitting at a record of 39-26.
Despite how exciting all of this sounds, nothing is 100% official just yet. NBA teams will vote on the proposed format tomorrow (Thursday), with the hope of games commencing by July 31st.
Make sure you are following Sixers Lead Writer David Esser (@phillyinsider99) and the PhillySportsNetwork Twitter account (@philadelphiaSN) for updates as they come out.
Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
