The New York Knicks have a 21-45 record in the 2019-2020 NBA season with no realistic chance of making the playoffs. But there is a scenario where they should take all sorts of measures to get to Orlando’s Walt Disney DIS World and play insignificant games to end their season.
In a return to play scenario, the teams would return to their home markets for a two-week quarantine period before a week or two of training and a two-to-three-week training period before even going down to Orlando. One proposal suggested organizing only quarantine sessions and training camps in Florida. Either way, there are a lot of hoops to jump, intentional word play and a lot of risk for games where teams like the Knicks should no longer play.
No lottery team is within five games of the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, but four teams are within four games of the eighth outside West. Maybe a play-in tournament may be feasible for some teams, but there is no reason why teams like Golden State, Minnesota, Phoenix, Cleveland, Atlanta, Detroit or New York should play other games until the 2020-2021 preseason or a Summer League style situation in the offseason.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Friday that there are scenarios in which all 30 teams arrive and have pool-style games to determine the final points of the playoffs, but several top series have said that the preference of the league would be not to drop all teams in Orlando.
“Fewer teams, fewer people are likely to spread or contract COVID-19,” wrote Woj. “Also, with little chance of playing more than 5-7 regular season games, a month of preparation seems like too much investment for the bottom-ranked teams.”