Milwaukee Bucks: 2020-21 NBA season to reportedly start on December 22
The Milwaukee Bucks will soon be back in action as the 2020-21 NBA season is reportedly set to tip off on December 22 after a vote from the NBPA.
We’re less than seven weeks away from the return of Milwaukee Bucks basketball.
According to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and was confirmed the NBPA itself Thursday night, the National Basketball Player Association has approved the league’s 2020-21 NBA season schedule that is slated to tip off December 22. Along with that, next season will be a 72-game campaign and players are set to report for the start of training camp at the top of next month.
More from Bucks News
- Bucks 2023-24 player profile: Can MarJon Beauchamp take a leap?
- Piecing together the Milwaukee Bucks’ dream starting 5 in 5 years
- Predicting Thanasis Antetokounmpo’s 2023-24 stats for the Bucks
- Grade the trade: Bucks land reputable backup guard in swap with Pacers
- New workout video should have Milwaukee Bucks fans excited
In the 46 days between now and the start of the season, we’ll certainly see a flurry of action, whether it’s through the draft, free agency and the trade market. And as Wojnarowski noted, the current transaction moratorium will be lifted ahead of the draft.
The Athletic’s Shams Charania made note that the salary cap for this offseason will be set at $109 million, just as he has previously reported in recent weeks. I recently broke down what the cap number means for the Bucks, who are already over the cap and nearing on the luxury tax going into a pivotal offseason.
How will the late December start affect the Milwaukee Bucks going into such a critical offseason?
Beyond just knowing when to expect the Bucks to return back to action and do so back in Fiserv Forum, where it will be nearly nine months since they’ve played a home in their own market, there are some big implications for them under this timeline. And of course, the biggest of those implications revolve around superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The two-time MVP will obviously be presented with his five-year supermax extension that will be roughly set at $226 million under the new financial structure as Bucks blogfather Frank Madden tweeted out last night.
As ESPN’s Zach Lowe noted in his offseason preview, the Bucks’ offer to Antetokounmpo will essentially be on the table for or roughly a month as the deadline for his extension comes up to the day before next season. For Bucks fans, that may be quite the stressful month, on top of being on the lookout for whatever upgrades and additions the Bucks are slated to make.
Antetokounmpo’s decision will obviously loom over everything this Bucks offseason, but we should expect a new slew of dates regarding the player options and guarantee dates that pertain to the likes of Ersan Ilyasova, Robin Lopez and Wesley Matthews. When those dates will be should be reported on soon and the same goes for when the moratorium will be lifted once those cap numbers are implemented.
Next. 3 possible trade targets from Pacific Division. dark
There’s clearly a lot of issues to still iron out, but we finally know when Bucks basketball will be back in our lives. Now buckle up for an offseason that will be unlike any other in Bucks history for a variety of reasons.