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First things first, I hope everyone is hanging in there through a trying and tumultuous week. Personally, I’ve gotten through it with an extra glass of the cheapest bottle of red wine.
In terms of Timberwolves related news, we now know when the 2020-21 NBA season will tip-off.
Reporting w/ @ZachLowe_NBA: NBA has Thursday meeting of Board of Governors that will share latest w/ teams on progress toward reaching deal for pre-Christmas start to season. NBPA/team reps meeting as soon as Thursday PM, expected to get a consensus on approving a Dec. 22 tip.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 4, 2020
To be blunt, this was always the only real way this was going to happen. The league itself may not have cared about waiting until January to re-start, but there was absolutely ZERO chance ESPN, ABC, or Turner/TNT would ever agree to lose out on Christmas. That was just never a realistic option from a financial sense.
In a human sense, this is going to create a fast and furious offseason reminiscent of what we saw after the lockout in 2011.
The NBPA is holding team calls today, sharing with players details of a proposed agreement with NBA that includes a Dec. 1 start to camps, three preseason games and discussions on a salary escrow for players in the range of 18 percent for the next two years, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 4, 2020
If I can attempt to do some simple math here, this means that there will be 12 days in-between the November 18th NBA Draft and the December 1st opening of camps. Hell, players are probably going to have to quarantine for 10-14 days once arriving in town before being eligible to participate in training camp.
I’d expect the early season play to be really, really sloppy. While teams will technically get three weeks of camp, it’s likely to be a lot less time than that that teams actually have all of their players participating. It’s going to take teams a while to get going.
Ultimately, I’m glad this is what the decision was. I miss watching basketball already, and I even miss watching the Timberwolves. It’s been roughly 85 years since they played a game. I can hardly remember how beautiful it is to watch Karl-Anthony Towns detonate on slow-footed big men. Soon, that’ll be back in our lives.