The NBA is targeting a July 31 return to the regular season

News24xx.com - The NBA is targeting a July 31 return to the regular season that will make for a four-plus-month hiatus from basketball since the coronavirus took hold of the United States on March 11. In this return, twenty-two of the NBA’s 30 teams will return from the coronavirus hiatus, according to an ESPN report.

That includes the 16 current playoff teams, plus the New Orleans Pelicans, Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings and San Antonio Spurs from the West, and the Washington Wizards will join from the East. The Nets will play in the Orlando bubble, while the Knicks’ season is over.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver will bring to the Board of Governors in their next meeting on Thursday, according to ESPN.

Read more: MMA : Mixed Martial Arts in Russia

Each team will play eight regular season games before the playoffs. There will then be play-in games to decide the eighth and final playoff seed before postseason play.

If the No. 9 seed is more than four games behind the No. 8 seed after playing the eight exhibition games, the No. 8 seed will advance directly to the playoffs. If the No. 9 seed is four or fewer games behind the No. 8 seed, there will be a play-in.

In a play-in, the No. 9 seed needs to beat No. 8 twice in a row, while the No. 8 seed only needs one win to advance to the playoffs.