The next NBA season will begin on December 22.

Although for months he considered delaying the start until January or February to have more options to have an audience in the stands, the pressure from the televisions has forced to start as soon as possible.

Only 71 days will have passed between the end of last year and the beginning, the shortest break in the history of American sports.

Although during the negotiation there have been discordant voices like that of

LeBron James

, the NBA had plenty of reasons to bring the start of the season forward: after the bad data of the 'bubble' (although all sports lost audience), it wanted to avoid stepping on with the Olympic Games (if they finally take place), return to play the playoffs in the summer or the Finals with the NFL already started.

To make it possible and return to the traditional October-June calendar, this season will have only 72 games.

The key dates

November 16: transfer market.

It is the only provisional, but everything points to this date, two or three days before the

draft

.

After nine months closed, many moves are expected to be announced.

November 18: Draft.

After postponing it twice, it was the only closed date.

In addition to the automatically selectable rookies (the 1998 generation), two other Spaniards have performed:

Sergi Martínez

(Barça) and

Joel Parra

(Joventut).

The Spanish basketball will also be

Leandro Bolmaro

(Barça),

Imru Duke

(Zentro Basket) and

Vit Krejci

(Zaragoza).

Nov. 20: Free Agent Market Opens: While deals are likely already under the table, this is the date teams can officially begin negotiating with non-contract players.

This also includes internationals who want to make the leap, such as Real Madrid player

Facundo Campazzo

.

The contracts will begin to be signed on the 22nd.

December 1: Preseason.

The NBA teams opened their facilities on October 30 and have permission to train in groups of up to 10 people (as long as they do daily tests).

But this date marks the official start of the preparation.

It is estimated that from day 10 the friendlies would begin (three per team).

Why at Christmas?

Christmas is the most important date of the regular season: the NBA schedules for this day some of the most attractive matches on its calendar: duels between contenders for the title, historical rivalries, reunions of stars who shared a team ... It is the big day.

So why not start directly on December 25?

The answer again is the televisions.

The TNT network has the broadcasting rights of the opening day, which includes the ceremony of delivery of the rings to the champion.

And between ESPN and ABC the five Christmas games are shared.

Since they are exclusive rights and the big teams must play both days, the NBA had to start before the 25th.

It will be a situation similar to the one experienced after the

2011

lockout

, which only left 17 market and preseason days.

This time it will be 21, but with the added difficulty (especially for new signings) that players will have to move and quarantine in the middle of a pandemic.

72-game schedule

The NBA will cut the regular season schedule from 82 to 72 games and again the reason is on televisions.

The league maintained for months that it would not stop during the Olympics (as the WNBA does), possibly playing with the idea that they could not be held, but this summer's audience slump has made it try to return to the traditional calendar as soon as possible .

But it is not the only reason.

As reported by journalist

Brian Windhorst

, it is common for the contracts that each team has with its regional televisions include a minimum of 70 games.

Below that figure, they have to start paying back money.

Will there be a bubble?

As we have learned during this year, the decisions are made by the pandemic, but the NBA wants to avoid another bubble at all costs: due to cost, logistical difficulties and psychological exhaustion for players, coaches, league workers ... In return, you will take steps to reduce the risk.

In addition to the daily tests (the NBA has participated in studies to develop more reliable rapid tests), the schedule will be adapted to reduce travel: there will be more games against opponents from the same division or conference.

And All-Star?

There is no official announcement yet, but the 2021 All-Star, which was to be held in Indiana, is in serious jeopardy.

Last August a local television reported that the league had canceled all hotel reservations.

But beyond the news, it does not seem the best idea to bring together the big stars of the league, coming from all regions of the country, for an event without an audience (or very limited capacity at best).

As some player contracts may have clauses for objectives such as being All-Star, it is possible that the NBA does at least keep the nominations.

But how much money?

Players were most in favor of starting the season on

Martin Luther King Day

, which is celebrated on the third Monday in January (in 2021, the 18th).

But the televisions, through the NBA, warned that that month of delay would cost about 500 million dollars.

Although he did not publicly explain where those accounts came from, it is likely that it was from losing Christmas Day and overlapping the Finals with the Games (or canceling more games).

Those losses would be added to the lack of public: Commissioner

Adam Silver

assured that the collection of the days of game constitutes 40% of his income, which in a normal season could suppose more than 3,000 million.

That will be your other battle.

The salary limit

The NBA salary limit is tied to income: the budget is divided by two (players and franchises) and then by 30 (by the number of teams).

However, despite the huge losses it will continue to suffer from the pandemic, the league will keep the salary cap at $ 109.1 million.

It will be an artificial number.

As the labor agreement establishes that the money must be distributed equally between the players and the teams, the NBA always withholds 10% of the salary to settle accounts at the end of the fiscal year.

To accommodate losses, the league is going to raise that percentage and spread it out over the next three seasons.

Otherwise, between taxes and withholdings, some players could have lost more than 70% of their salary.

The limit for the luxury tax, which imposes fines on the teams that spend the most, remains at 132.6 million.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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