Milwaukee Bucks: Seeding schedule already affected ahead of restart

A few weeks ahead of the 2019-20 season restart, the Milwaukee Bucks’ seeding schedule is already being affected by confirmed cases and players sitting out.

The 2019-20 NBA season restart is a few weeks away from going into action in Orlando.

We’ve gotten a much clearer picture for how things will operate and how the league will finish out the regular season and go into the postseason as all 22 NBA teams, including the Milwaukee Bucks, are soon set for Walt Disney World.

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But as the NBA’s grand plans for resuming the season amid the coronavirus pandemic, especially with confirmed cases surging in central Florida, are shaping up to disrupt how the seeding games will ultimately come to pass.

The Bucks’ eight-game slate is a perfect example of the growing problems and concerns in this regard.

Milwaukee is set to take on a number of Eastern Conference opponents that they will likely have to go through between the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat and the Toronto Raptors. Challenges will still come from the few Western Conference opponents the Bucks will take on as well, with tilts against the Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies making up that portion of the seeding games.

For as much as the Bucks will want to be battle tested ahead of their playoff run, though, their games against both the Brooklyn Nets and the Washington Wizards have taken some big hits in recent weeks.

Whether it’s been Spencer Dinwiddie, DeAndre Jordan or rookie big man Nic Claxton, Brooklyn has had multiple players test positive for COVID-19. Jordan has gone as far as bowing out of Orlando altogether, while Dinwiddie’s status is still in doubt. Meanwhile, veteran forward Wilson Chandler has also backed out of finishing out the season to stay with his family.

The Wizards, on the other hand, will be without a key piece in sharpshooter Davis Bertans as he’s opted to sit out ahead of his looming free agency. Any slim chances the Wizards have in trying to make the playoffs could easily go down the drain when All-Star guard Bradley Beal makes his decision of whether he will play in Orlando or not.

Not only does that affect the Bucks’ seeding schedule, but it will very easily affect who they will end up seeing in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. As of right now, the seventh-seeded Nets are a half game ahead of the eighth-seeded Orlando Magic.

Clearly, this is only the tip of the iceberg for how teams and players will be affected by the virus now and especially as teams get ready to depart for Orlando and unfortunately, it could rear its ugly head during some of the most critical points in the season and playoffs.

Celtics All-Star forward Gordon Hayward has already made it known that he will leave the bubble in September for when his wife is set to give birth to the couple’s fourth child. And if the Bucks are fortunate to reach the NBA Finals, they may end up facing a Los Angeles Lakers squad that will certainly be without veteran guard Avery Bradley and potentially reserve center Dwight Howard.

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Very often, not only is it the best team that wins an NBA championship every year, but they often have the good fortune of their health remaining intact when they reach that summit. This season, staving off of attrition may be a little too on the nose and take on an outward-facing role as teams like the Bucks aspire to win a title this season.

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