Portland Trail Blazers only team to vote against NBA 22-team return
The NBA almost unanimously voted to pick up the 2019-20 NBA season. The only no vote came from the Portland Trail Blazers.
Thursday, Commissioner Adam Silver announced the NBA’s plan to resume play after the Board of Governors voted on it earlier in the day. The motion carried 29-1. The lone vote against a return came from the Portland Trail Blazers.
Portland’s no vote was a bit of a surprise, considering they are one of the teams that will gain the most from the 22-team format. In a typical year, each conference sends eight teams to the postseason. Since the regular season came to a halt in March for COVID-19, teams couldn’t finish out their respective schedules.
Why Portland Trail Blazers management voted against the plan has nothing to do with returning to action. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Blazers liked other proposals better than the one that was approved by the league.
Sources: Blazers are eager to resume season, but chose to vote “No” because franchise believed there were more competitive and innovative formats on table — including those that addressed 2020 NBA Draft lottery odds based on regular-season game results in Orlando.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 4, 2020
Using historical data, the NBA determined all teams within six games of an eight seed would continue play. Sitting only three-and-a-half games behind Memphis, the Portland Trail Blazers still have a good chance to get into the postseason. Even if they don’t make the playoffs, it’s like a college football team qualifying for a bowl game. They will get valuable practice time that the eight teams already eliminated won’t have. It’s a win-win.
This format should please Blazers star guard Damian Lillard. He had been vocal about not playing if the games were meaningless. The goal is for each of the 22 teams to play eight more games. That means every contest the Trail Blazers play will be like a playoff game. Even if Portland remains the ninth-place team, in the end, there is still an eight vs. nine seed play-in. It doesn’t get more meaningful than that.
Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, will play host to all games. There are three facilities on-site, The Arena, HP Field House, and Visa Athletic Center. Up to seven games could be played per day. It will take three months to crown an NBA champion.
The plan
The way it will work is that the team will gather in Portland for a week of practice. They will then be allowed to travel to Florida with a party of 35, where they may face a two-week quarantine. Teams will practice again and may even scrimmage each other. Everyone involved league-wide stays at the same hotel.
Beginning July 31, each team plays eight contests, which the NBA calls seeding-games. From there, the playoffs will work as they always have, just without fans. If the Blazers fail to make the playoffs, they will go into the August 25 draft lottery. The NBA draft takes place on October 15.
There are still many details to be worked out. Approval from the NBA Players Association is a formality. The league and union worked together to make a return to play possible.
How do you feel about the Portland Trail Blazers finishing out the season with a chance to make the playoffs? Let us know in the comments section below or on social media.