NBA schedule & structure for 2020-21 season: Play-in tournament, regular season split in 2

The much-awaited NBA schedule was recently announced, with the league disclosing the structure and format for the upcoming season. The 75th regular season is scheduled to begin from December 22 and will feature 72 games for each team. Apart from the tentative schedule, the structure for the tournament has also been revealed. Here's everything you need to know about the NBA playoffs 2021 and the NBA play-in tournament.

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NBA December start: Schedule and structure explained ahead of the new season

The league announced that the NBA schedule will be released in two halves, in what will be labelled the First Half and Second Half respectively. The schedule for the First Half will be released around the start of the training camp, which is scheduled to begin from December 1. The NBA schedule for the Second Half will only be released as the First Half draws to a close.

The Second Half will include the games which weren’t previously scheduled, along with postponed First Half games, if any.

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NBA schedule: When will NBA All-Star 2021 game take place?

The 2020-21 season will see each side play a total of 72 games. Each NBA team will play teams within its conference three times, thus totalling 42 games in the season. The sides will also play teams from the opposing conference twice, therefore completing the 72-game quota. Within the division, the NBA schedule has randomly assigned two teams that will be played twice at home, while two opponents will be played twice on the road as well. 

For the inter-conference games, each team will play two games against the said opponent, with every pairing involving a home and away game. The All-Star break is scheduled to take place between the two halves of the season from March 5-10. Following the All-Star break, the second half of the season will commence from March 11, 2021.

NBA play-in tournament approved as well

Along with the NBA schedule, it was also announced that the NBA Board of Governors has unanimously approved the proposal to implement a play-in tournament on a one-year basis for the upcoming season. The NBA play-in tournament will take place after the regular season and before the first round of the playoffs.

The tournament will include the teams with the seventh-highest through the tenth-highest winning percentages in each conference, providing them with an opportunity to earn an NBA Playoffs 2021 spot. 

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The team with the seventh-highest winning percentage in each conference will face the teams with the eight-highest winning percentage in the “Seven-Eight Game”. The winner of the game in each conference will be the seventh seed in the playoffs for its conference.

Subsequently, a “Nine-Ten Game” will see teams with the ninth and 10th-highest winning percentages take on each other. The winning teams will then take on the losing teams from the “Seven-Eight Game” to fight for the eighth seed in the playoffs.

Here is the tentative 2020-21 NBA schedule

• Pre-season games: December 11-19, 2020
• First Half of regular season: December 22, 2020- March 4, 2021
• All-Star break: March 5-10,2021
• Second Half of regular season: March 11,2021-May 16,2021
• Play-In Tournamnent: March 18-21,2021
• NBA Playoffs 2021: May 22-July 22, 2021

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Image Credits: Phoenix Suns Instagram