The 2019-20 NBA season lasted more than a full year, from the start of training camp (Oct. 1, 2019) to the end of the finals (Oct. 11, 2020).
There was a lot of time off during that span, of course, but it was not a relaxing few months. It was a time fraught with worry over a global health pandemic — a time when a lot of players couldn't work out in a meaningful way and/or wouldn't have wanted to if they could.
Then all but eight teams were whisked away to Orlando — some for a handful of weeks, some for several months. The rest barely did anything, which might have been just as strange.
Players' bodies are either tired or confused. Their heads are probably all over the place. But through all of it, players and the league have agreed to start this season … next month? Training camp in a few weeks?
Absurd. Dumb. The worst idea, except from a pure short-term business sense.
Between now and then — and remember, as of this writing the NBA finals ended less than a month ago — there will be a draft in eight days on Nov. 18. Free agency starts Nov. 20. And the camps open Dec. 1.
It's the shortest offseason in the history of major U.S. sports, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
All of it in the name of cramming in 72 games this season, in a schedule that has yet to be determined or announced, in arenas that might or might not have fans.
