NBA Update: Returning Soon!
Article by Max Laxo / Photo by Vince Fleming via Unsplash
Little more than a year ago, Toronto was flooded with proud basketball fans. I remember arriving for work on the morning after the Raptors won the championship, and then being excused from desk work to watch the parade. People seemed happier to be working, the sun was shining, and the grass was greener. Looking back, it is odd to realize how I took the spectacle of major league sports for granted, and it is almost unbelievable to imagine that so many people could walk around unmasked, and within an arm’s length of each other.
With that being said, the road to the NBA championship has been very different this year, as the league has been on a hiatus since early March. Unfortunately, this meant that I had to fold the fantasy basketball league between several of my friends and myself (my regrets to anybody who drafted Zion, and only got to see him dominate towards the end of the regular season), but nonetheless, I am thrilled to see basketball return! For anybody who identifies as a “seasonal” fan of basketball (especially when their local team is thriving), I am pleased to provide you with a brief guide to the current state of the league.
When and Where: The NBA will resume on July 30th, at the Walt Disney World Resort by Orlando, FL. Known as the “NBA Bubble”, players are expected to stick to restrictive protocols that limit their contact and prevent them from putting others at risk. To encourage safety, the NBA has even implemented a hotline to inform the appropriate governing body, of players and staff that may have violated protocols.
Who: Here there will be a total of 22 teams, with many rosters picking up new/ previously waived players to accommodate the open spots created by players that opted out/ could not play for health reasons. Among these teams is our beloved Toronto Raptors, who are essentially the same roster from the beginning of the season.
How: Teams will go through several scrimmages to prepare for the resumption of the season, before playing 8 games to improve their conference standings, and then enter the first round of traditional 16-team playoffs on August 17th. Notably, there is a bit of fiercer competition in the Western Conference, which consists of 13 teams, to the Eastern Conference’s 9 teams in attendance. Above all, the most important takeaway from this is that the Raptors have secured their playoff berth from earlier on in the season and will be serious contenders for this season’s *championship*.
Why do I say *championship*? : Simply put, this will not be an ordinary playoff season with comparable circumstances to prior seasons. Players are playing without access to their regular lives, family, friends, and have been on hiatus alongside the NBA and the many closed training facilities. In addition, this is especially true for teams that are entering the bubble without key players, as clearest with the Houston Rockets, who have recently announced that Russell Westbrook tested positive for COVID-19. Moreover, there is also the odd truth that players’ meals appear to be very rationed and inadequate – as visible in J.R Smith’s review of the food being served to players.
This could be the most difficult championship for a team to attain in all of NBA history, and I believe the Raptors are positioned excellently with a healthy team that is not short-handed on versatile players, a deep bench, and plenty of rest. However, there is also the concern that they will not be the Raptors that we know and love because of the time off that everybody has been forced to observe. Until then, we will be holding them in high regards, and hope to see them in the NBA Finals beginning September 30th!!!
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