This Is The NBA's New Format For The 2020-2021 Season

JAKARTA - The NBA will use a playoff tournament to determine the seventh and eighth seeds in the 2020-2021 post-season, according to a new format announced by the league on Tuesday local time.

The shortened season will start on December 22, with teams playing 72 matches against the usual 82 to allow the playoffs to finish in July and players to enter the Olympics.

The biggest change to the format this season is a new method of determining the top eight post-season teams from the East and West Regions.

Previously, the top eight teams in each region advanced to the playoffs.

This season, the league plans to play mini-tournaments among the seventh to 10th places to determine the seventh and eighth seeds.

A similar format was used last season when the league restarted in a bubble in Orlando after being stuck for four months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the new format, the team with the seventh highest winning percentage in each region will play a home game against the team with the eighth highest winning percentage in its region. The winner of the match will become the seventh seed.

The team that loses the match will then take on the playoff winner between the ninth and tenth-placed teams for the eighth seed and final place in the playoffs.

Engineered the playoffs is the most significant change to the league format announced on Tuesday.

The full schedule for the 2020-2021 season will roll out in stages, with the first half of the season announced during pre-season training camp.

The fixtures for the second half of the season will be confirmed in mid-season, Antara said.