There is hardly more exciting news right now than the approval of the NBA season restart, which will see the 22 NBA franchises return. However, there are still contingencies to plan for, and even though one of the basketball leagues is about to restart, nobody should become complacent.
That is why the NBA has decided to allow teams to sign in replacement players in the event that some players test positive for the great disruptor – COVID-19. The new guideline change would allow teams to avoid downtime and adapt to changes quickly, making sure that the season can go as planned.
The first games will resume on July 31 at Disney World in Orlando. All teams will first have to play eight regular season games before they can make it to the playoffs. This is great news indeed, as anyone who missed basketball action will finally be able to look up the latest odds for basketball and, with a bit of luck, place a successful bet.
Preparing a Few Contingencies Along the Way
Now that the NBA is returning, the Associations want to avoid anything that may throw a spanner in its plans. So, as per the new guidelines, any team that has players who have diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, can simply sign up new, replacement players. This will hopefully allow teams to negate any competitive disadvantage that they might incur for missing players.
Everyone, though, seems pretty reassured about what is to follow next. The replacement transfer window should open on June 22 according to ESPN sources and it will feature all 30 teams, and not just the 22 which have agreed to return back to regular play.
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Of course, these measures aren’t entirely perfect, because signing a new player would still mean that these free agents will be subject to quarantine once they arrive in Orlando. In other words, even after signing the replacements, they may not be able to join the team immediately. There may be specific guidelines that forbid them from exercising with other members of the teams they are part of, as that could spread the virus further.
Naturally, such precautions make a lot of sense. However, some have said that given the field of potential replacement players, it could make more sense to just wait for already signed players to return from injury or sickness rather than doting out more money on new players whose efficiency is questionable.
Giving Chance to New Talent?
Any NBA fan knows how quickly the game changes and what that usually means is that after a break like that, you can expect some pretty surprising results. Therefore, following NBA scores in the games after the return will be quite important for bettors and players to get a feel of which way the post-COVID-19 season is going.
It’s likely for the best teams to keep being at the top unless some of their players are diagnosed and need to start skipping games, which can have an adverse effect. All in all, though, despite these contingencies, the NBA feels pretty confident about the return of the league, and so do fans.
