Whatever happens, the Nuggets will embrace it.
But as of Wednesday, the Nuggets expect the NBA’s board of governors to vote Thursday on a proposal which would send 22 teams to Orlando to play eight regular-season games, a possible play-in tournament, followed by the playoffs.
The eight regular-season games, followed by a potential play-in tournament for the No. 8 seed, would determine the seedings for the postseason. In addition to the current playoff teams, Portland, New Orleans, Sacramento, San Antonio, Phoenix and Washington should be granted a chance to earn a playoff berth, pending the vote. All were within six games of the No. 8 seed when the league was suspended.
In this scenario, the play-in tournament (triggered if the No. 9 seed finishes within four games of the No. 8 seed) would have no effect on Denver’s postseason path.
The games would start around July 31, according to the Associated Press. The Athletic first reported on the expected vote for a 22-team plan.
But where does that leave the Nuggets, who were 43-22 and 11/2 games back of the Clippers when the season was halted on March 11? To start, the team believes it’s in a good place.
The NBA considered restarting the season using a 20-team, group-play format, which could’ve given sub-.500 teams the same chance to advance to the second round as the Nuggets. Denver was strongly opposed to such a format, according to multiple league sources, believing that it undermined their success throughout the regular season.
All 30 teams were polled in an anonymous GM survey about a potential return-to-play, and the Nuggets voted to go directly to the playoffs, according to two league sources.
It was the most logical vote for teams firmly entrenched in the playoffs; no team already in playoffs would want to expand the playoff pool.
What remains to be seen is how the NBA determines the regular season scheduling, and this could have a significant impact on the Nuggets. Before the suspension, Denver was scheduled to play six of their next eight games on the road against four playoff teams. One of their home games was against the Clippers, currently the No. 2 seed.
The NBA can’t replicate the exact schedule since eight teams won’t be invited to Orlando. However the league decides to dole out the regular-season games, the Nuggets could realistically finish anywhere from the No. 2 to the No. 7 seed. But the seeding is largely irrelevant since there will be no homecourt advantage in the playoffs.
Nuggets coach Michael Malone laid out a timeline for a return to play.
“It sounds like now, and again this will be confirmed on Thursday, maybe by July 1 we’ll have some sort of active training camp in Denver, after a few weeks of that I believe we may go down to Orlando and then start some 5-5 training camp for a couple of weeks, play a few exhibition games and now it’s looking more like we’ll play some regular-season games,” he said on Altitude.
More important than the scheduling is the matchup. The Nuggets are currently slated to face the No. 6 Rockets, a team that’s historically given them trouble. Out of Utah, Oklahoma City or Dallas, Houston is probably their least ideal first-round series, and teams will undoubtedly jockey for preferred matchups over the final eight games.
The other matter that remains unclear is what happens with Denver’s first-round pick that it acquired from Houston at February’s trade deadline. It’s currently the No. 21 pick, but that may be contingent on where the Rockets finish, not where they currently are. On the other hand, how can the NBA assign draft positions when all 30 teams won’t be playing the same number of games?
On Thursday, the NBA will formally address its return-to-play scenario. The byproducts from that decision will have to be sorted out later.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
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