The NBA has reportedly been discussing a December 1, 2021 start date for next season
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00:00Of course, this NBA season isn't scheduled, but they also have to schedule next season.
00:12For more on that, I'm joined by our senior writer, Chris Mannix.
00:14Chris, we know December 1st is a target date, but that's a quick turnaround.
00:18What's the league trying to accomplish here?
00:20Yeah, Atlanta Hawks general manager, Travis Schlenk, was on a conference call with reporters
00:25earlier this week.
00:26He kind of lent voice to what most already felt was the thinking behind it, which was
00:31the league would like to get back on a regular schedule and finish the 2020-2021 season sometime
00:39in mid to late June.
00:42It's why the league is willing to end October 12th, potentially, and have a really quick
00:47turnaround time to get back into training camp in early November and start on December
00:521st.
00:53Do you see that being moved?
00:55Because obviously, I would imagine that the players are going to try and get it pushed
00:59back to around Christmas time, at least.
01:01Yeah, the union has already pushed back a little bit, and this is definitely a fluid
01:06situation and an ongoing negotiation because the union, the players, don't want to have
01:11a couple of teams potentially finish in mid-October and have to turn around and come back and
01:17get into training camp a month, maybe less than a month later.
01:20So the union is pushing back.
01:21More importantly, I think the NBA might be missing an opportunity here to see what summer
01:26basketball actually looks like.
01:27If they begin the schedule at Christmas time and stretch it out the normal way, they'll
01:32be able to see and get some data on what July and August basketball looks like.
01:37Now, a lot of people believe that summer basketball and summer sports don't work at a high level,
01:42but that's mostly because summer sports haven't taken place at a high level ever before, really,
01:47and certainly not in the NBA.
01:49So there are a lot of people around the league that think the league might be missing out
01:52on an opportunity to go ahead, play summer basketball, and if the data comes back that
01:57it's not worth it, come the 2021-2022 season, you can find a way to get back on a normal
02:03schedule.
02:04We'll see how it all shakes out.
02:05Of course, we're still waiting for this season to resume.
02:08Chris, appreciate your time, as always.
02:10You got it.