The NBA’s major in-season schedule changes may be waiting a while after some new developments Friday.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the league will not have the NBA Board of Governors vote on its scheduling plans in April as previously planned. While the league is still studying changes like an in-season tournament and playoff play-in games, they are not yet ready to take it to owners.
NBA has informed teams that it will continue to take long look at changes to NBA calendar, but will no longer take a vote of the NBA's Board of Governors in April, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 17, 2020
NBA has been working closely with teams, NBPA and stakeholders and wants to continue studying how in-season tournament, play-in for 7/8 seeds and re-seeding of Final Four could best be planned and monetized in the long-run. League plans an update for owners at April BOG meeting.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 17, 2020
NBA had hoped that an April BOG vote of calendar changes could give ample planning to implement changes for 75th Anniversary season in 2021-22. That season hasn't been ruled out yet for changes, sources say, but it's a tight window for all the planning that needs to occur.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 17, 2020
Marc Stein of the New York Times said the belief remains that such proposals will eventually be adopted by the league.
The NBA is still trying to figure out how to create incentives for teams and players to compete in an in-season tournament, and that’s probably not far enough along to present it to the owners. Add in that some proposals don’t seem to be popular, and it may also be that the proposals simply don’t have the required support to pass right now. The league is wise to wait to present such proposals until they know precisely what they’d entail, how they would be implemented, and whether they stand a chance of passage. Ultimately, this doesn’t mean these plans won’t be adopted, but it may take a bit longer than previously thought.
