Milwaukee Bucks: Owners’ vote gives approval for NBA season to resume

The Milwaukee Bucks’ season took a major step toward resumption on Thursday, as NBA team owners voted in favor of a 22-team format in Walt Disney World.

On Thursday, the NBA took what was easily its most significant step toward playing since the coronavirus brought the season to a grinding halt back in March. The 2019-20 season may still end up crowning a champion, with the Milwaukee Bucks being in an excellent position to contend.

On a board of governors call, team owners voted 29-1 to approve a proposal that will see 22 teams head to Walt Disney World to resume the season at the end of July, play eight regular season games, potential play-in games for the eighth seed, and then proceed with a traditional playoff format.

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The only dissenting voice was the Portland Trail Blazers, with various reports suggesting that although the Blazers were determined to see the season resumed, they were in favor of more innovative proposals and also wanted regular season games played upon resumption to count toward the lottery odds.

With the plan easily passing the three-quarters majority required for approval, a variety of details in terms of what the league’s restart will look like have come to light.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski detailed what some of the NBA’s current plans for the restart includes:

"“The regular season will extend 16 days, with five to six games per day.There will be four hours between games on each individual court to accommodate overtimes, cleanings and warm-ups. The league will be using three courts in the complex for games.In the eight-game regular-season format, each team is expected to play one back-to-back.The NBA is expected to be aggressive in moving up the dates to start playoff series when the previous round’s series come to an end.The NBA Finals format is expected to include games every other day.”"

Assuming it’s safe for the NBA to resume as planned in late July, it’s clear that NBA fans will be in for a feast of basketball, with games likely to be played throughout the day in order to get the regular season completed in the quickest possible fashion.

The Milwaukee Bucks will hope to make the most of the proposed resumption by winning an NBA championship at Walt Disney World.

From a Bucks’ perspective, with very little to play for over that remaining slab of regular season games, the fact that those final eight games will include just one back-to-back is certainly good news. Conditioning and player health will be key concerns after such a lengthy lay-off, and for as much as the Bucks will be working to regain game sharpness, they’ll also be eager to avoid any injuries that could hurt their postseason chances.

In spite of the go-ahead from the owners, there remain key hurdles for the NBA’s current plan to pass.

The National Basketball Players Association will need to approve the plan on a conference call on Friday. The terms of the NBA’s agreement with Disney to use their site to still need to be finalized, although at this point that would be assumed to be something of a formality. Undoubtedly most important of all, though, is the fact that safety protocols need to be drawn up for the campus-style environment.

Still, this was undoubtedly a major step for the NBA, and with it the Milwaukee Bucks move a step closer to resuming their pursuit of a championship.