Get excited. The Phoenix Suns are likely to resume playing live, NBA basketball games on July 31.
Normally when Adrian Wojnarowski drops one of his famous bombs, it has something to do with a player transition, but today he has blessed us with the bomb of dates when NBA basketball, including the Phoenix Suns, will likely resume.
I have to say likely because the official vote won’t happen until Thursday at a board of governors meetings, but you know, Woj usually knows what he’s talking about.
While we already knew the Phoenix Suns were most certainly going to be involved in the return to play, (even if it was by the hair of Dario Saric’s goatee), we didn’t know much in terms of dates. Now we, ahem, likely know.
The Phoenix Suns hope to return on July 31.
The NBA’s play resumption is proposed to start July 31, and not go later than October 12. While those dates are not official, it is probably safe to mark those dates in your calendar with a pencil (but one of those old-school pencils with a hardened eraser that just basically doesn’t erase at all).
Let’s run these dates through the math and science machine and figure out exactly how this might play out.
The traditional NBA playoffs last from mid-April through mid-June. That’s two full months. I assume the league will want to keep the integrity of days between games intact so players can heal their bodies appropriately, which would mean we are likely to see the start of the playoffs around August 12.
That will leave right at two weeks (July 31-August 12) for the NBA to play out whatever 22-team format they decide upon.
Enter the Phoenix Suns.
If the format is heavily weighted to benefit teams who have already secured a playoff spot, these two weeks of basketball might be the only chance we get to see more Suns this season.
It will be interesting to see how many games they try to squeeze into that relatively short time frame. There will be no traveling involved, so cross-country flights won’t play a factor.
We’ve heard the league is planning on least five games for each team, and two weeks would be plenty of enough time to get those in.
Remember, though, there could be a play-in option in addition to those tune-up games.
If we allow for another three to four games for whatever that might look like, we are really starting to compress the timeline and multiple back-to-backs will become a necessity.
We can sort out the details when we get them, though. For now, get excited. Live Phoenix Suns basketball is likely coming to a television near you on July 31.