Assuming that there were going to be postponements for much of the season, the NBA decided to split the 2020-21 season in two. The competition would be subject to a stoppage to plan the second part of the calendar and relocate the late games. This year there was nothing to suggest that the situation would go to the extreme of suspension, but the Omicron variant has ruined any expectations, causing the postponement of eleven games during the month of December.
For this reason, the League has had to juggle to fit them back into a calendar that already has 82 games. This has also forced to make certain adjustments in parties that already had a fixed date to readapt them to the new plan. The changes will affect the calendar between January 9 and March 31. Date on which the Cleveland Cavaliers-Atlanta Hawks will be played, which would have taken place on December 19.
Since the COVID-19 threat reappeared, the NBA has introduced continuous regulations to try to avoid further delays. The calendar is already tight, so this restructuring will put some stress on the affected teams. While waiting for the third dose to spread among the majority of players and those recently affected are immunized for a time, it is logical to think that this will be the last time that the League has to make drastic decisions in this regard. From the dispatches it is believed that the worst is over and that the competition will continue with the normality of pre-established dates until April 10, when the regular season ends.
(Cover photo by Harry How / Getty Images)