NBA Second-Half Schedule Should Arrive This Week

NBA Teams will see a draft of the second half schedule for the 2020-21 season in the coming week, according to Zach Lowe and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Games are currently scheduled through the first week in March, but the order of play after that remains unknown.

In theory, all 30 franchises will participate in 72 regular-season contests, but pushing back postponed games from the first half of the season—plus enduring more postponements after March—may make that impossible.

Team officials have asked the league what would happen if more games are postponed in the second half of the schedule — and if the league would attempt to make those games up even with no time cushion built into the back of the schedule, sources said. The league has indicated it will explore ways to make up future postponements, but has acknowledged in talks with league officials that some teams may not reach 72 games played.

The duo also report that extra back-to-back nights are possible, but that the league will try to avoid four-games-in-five-nights scenarios. The priority is to get the 2021 NBA Playoffs started, and presumably ended, on time, making way for a resumption of the NBA Draft, Summer League and beyond.