The NBA’s new 22-team format to finish the regular season and the playoffs should benefit the Los Angeles Lakers.
The NBA board of governors voted 29-1 to restart the 2019-2020 season. Here are the relevant details:
- The regular season will start on July 31, and the playoffs will conclude by Oct 12 at the latest.
- 13 Western Conference teams and nine Eastern Conference teams will play eight regular-season games for playoff seeding and to determine the eighth seed in both conferences.
- If the ninth seed in either conference finishes the regular season within four games of the eighth seed, they will compete in a play-in tournament. The ninth seed would have to beat the eighth seed twice. The eighth seed would only have to win once.
- Every team will play in Orlando at the Walt Disney Resort.
- The league is considering allowing teams to carry 17 players during the final eight games of the regular season and throughout the playoffs to combat losing players due to the coronavirus.
Many of the new changes to the regular season and the playoffs help the Los Angeles Lakers. We’ll show the three most significant benefits for the Purple and Gold.