NBA Schedule For 2020-21 Includes No All-Star Game, Play-In Tournament And Finals In July: Report

There won’t be an NBA All-Star Game in 2021 and the schedule for the upcoming season also includes a play-in tournament for the 7-10 seeds and the NBA Finals occurring in July, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

The All-Star Game was scheduled for Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis but won’t happen due to the pandemic, although there will be an All-Star break from March 5-10.

The season will begin Dec. 22, as previously reported, in order to capitalize on the TV ratings for Christmas Day games.

The 72-game regular season will end May 16, with a play-in tournament for the 7-10 seeds taking place May 17-21. The No. 7 and No. 8 seeds need to win once to stay in the playoffs, while the No. 9 and No. 10 seeds need to win twice to move up into the field, Woj reported.

The conference semifinals begin June 7 with the conference finals starting June 22.

The NBA Finals will run July 8-22.

The Tokyo Olympics begin July 23.

Lakers forward Danny Green has said that some players who went deep into this last NBA season that ended in October might sit out the first month of the season.

“Bron’s been in the Finals 10 years out of his 17 years, which is unbelievable mentally,” Green said on The Ringer NBA Show. “You know there’s training to do that. And to have that quick of a restart, I wouldn’t expect to see him there. I wouldn’t expect to see him probably for the first month of the season. He’ll probably be working out with us. Probably do some playing, but I just don’t expect guys to want to be there or show up willingly.”