NBPA approves Dec. 22 start for 72-game regular season. What does it mean for Heat?
It looks like the NBA offseason will be a quick one.
The National Basketball Players Association’s player representatives voted Thursday to tentatively approve the NBA’s proposal to begin the 2020-21 season on Dec. 22 and play a shortened 72-game schedule amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Board of Player Representatives of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) has tentatively approved a start date of December 22, 2020 for the 2020-2021 NBA season and a 72-game schedule,” the NBPA said in a statement issued Thursday night. “Additional details remain to be negotiated and the NBPA is confident that the parties will reach agreement on these remaining issues relevant to the upcoming season.”
This means the offseason would last just 71 days, which is the fewest days between the end of a season and the start of the next season in NBA, MLB, NHL and NFL history, according to Elias Sports.
As one of the final two teams playing last season, the Miami Heat will experience that very short offseason firsthand. The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Heat in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Oct. 11 to win the championship in the league’s Disney quarantine bubble.
The quick turnaround sets up a busy November around the NBA.
The draft is set for Nov. 18. The Heat holds the 20th pick in the first round, but it does not own a second-round pick.
The start date of free agency has not been set yet, but it could possibly begin just a few days after the draft on Nov. 20 or 21. The Heat has six impending unrestricted free agents: Jae Crowder, Goran Dragic, Udonis Haslem, Solomon Hill, Derrick Jones Jr. and Meyers Leonard.
In addition, center Kelly Olynyk will likely have until the day before the start of free agency to decide on his $12.2 million player option for the 2020-21 season. The expectation is that Olynyk will opt-in to the final season of his contract with the Heat for next season.
Also, Miami can extend All-Star center Bam Adebayo’s rookie-scale contract until the day before the start of the regular season, as he will earn $5.1 million next season in the final year of his rookie deal whether he signs an extension this offseason or not. The extension would begin in the 2021-22 season.
The salary cap numbers for the upcoming season have not been finalized yet, but the expectation is the salary cap will remain flat with this past season’s numbers ($109 million cap, $132.6 million tax line) also used next season.
The Heat’s current salary-cap breakdown for next season looks like this: Jimmy Butler ($34.4 million), Andre Iguodala ($15 million), Olynyk ($12.2 million player option), Adebayo ($5.1 million), Tyler Herro ($3.8 million), Duncan Robinson ($1.7 million), Kendrick Nunn ($1.7 million), KZ Okpala ($1.5 million), Chris Silva ($1.5 million), a projected $2.4 million cap hit for the 20th overall pick in this year’s draft, a $5.2 million waive-and-stretch cap hit for Ryan Anderson that’s still on the books, and a $350,000 waive-and-stretch cap hit for AJ Hammons.
Assuming Olynyk opts-in to the final season of his contract and the Heat keeps the player it drafts this year, Miami will have about $85 million committed to 10 players for next season if the cap remains flat. That means the Heat could create up to $22 million in cap space, including cap holds, if it renounces the rights to its six impending free agents.
The other, more likely alternative, would be the Heat operating as an over-the-cap team in order to preserve the Bird rights of its free agents and be able to exceed the salary cap to re-sign Dragic and Crowder. Miami then could augment the roster by signing a player with its $9.3 million mid-level exception or acquiring a player into a $7.5 million trade exception.
Shortly after the free-agency negotiating period, training camps are expected to begin on Dec. 1.
Why did the league and players agree to begin the 2020-21 season in December after last season came to an end just in October?
The NBA believes that beginning in December instead of mid-January is worth about $500 million in revenue, according to the Associated Press.
Also, the NBA would like to get back to a traditional league calendar as soon as possible — something closer to an October start and June finish. The thinking is a 72-game season that begins in December and is expected to come to an end before the Summer Olympics in July could allow for an October start to the 2021-22 season.
While next season won’t be played in a quarantine bubble, it will still be played in the middle of a pandemic. The NBA’s hope is that some amount of fans will be allowed to attend games this upcoming season, but it’s still unknown whether that will be permitted to start the season.
According to The Athletic, the NBA is aiming to have arena suites open to fans, based on local ordinance, at 25 to 50 percent capacity. But the situation remains fluid, and discussions continue surrounding details of what next season could look like regarding fans in arenas.
This story was originally published November 5, 2020 at 11:37 PM.
