After four months of inactivity, the NBA will be back on the hardwood starting on July 30 with the Utah Jazz taking on the New Orleans Pelicans. Twenty-two teams across both conferences (13 in the West, nine in the East) will finish the regular season by playing eight games each. The final eight regular-season games will set the seeding heading into the playoffs. If the No. 8 and No. 9 teams in each conference are within four games of each other, there will be a a play-in series to determine the final seed. The No. 9 team will need to beat the No. 8 team twice in order to take the final spot. From there, the playoffs will follow the standard postseason schedule. Let’s get into who is in and out, so you can make your NBA DFS picks for your lineups on DraftKings and FanDuel.
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NBA Timeline
July 7: Teams arrive in Orlando
July 9 – 29: Training camp begins. Each team will have three scrimmages.
July 30 – August 14: Regular season begins (ends?). 88 games will be played over 16 days.
August 15 & 16: Potential 8 vs. 9 games take place.
August 17: Playoffs begin.
August 25: NBA Lottery scheduled.
August 30: Family members and guests may enter the Orlando bubble.
September 30: NBA Finals starts.
October 16: NBA Draft
October 18: NBA Free Agency begins.
Eastern Conference
| Team | W | L | ORTG | DRTG | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milwaukee | 53 | 12 | 113.5 | 102.3 | +11.2 |
| Boston | 43 | 21 | 113.3 | 106.7 | +6.7 |
| Toronto | 46 | 18 | 111.6 | 105.5 | +6.0 |
| Miami | 41 | 24 | 113.1 | 109.6 | +3.5 |
| Philadelphia | 39 | 26 | 110.9 | 108.1 | +2.8 |
| Indiana | 39 | 26 | 110.9 | 108.5 | +2.4 |
| Orlando | 30 | 35 | 109.0 | 109.5 | -0.5 |
| Brooklyn | 30 | 34 | 108.6 | 109.2 | -0.6 |
| Washington | 24 | 40 | 111.6 | 116.2 | -4.7 |
Western Conference
| Team | W | L | ORTG | DRTG | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L.A. Lakers | 49 | 14 | 113.2 | 106.1 | +7.1 |
| L.A. Clippers | 44 | 20 | 113.7 | 107.4 | +6.3 |
| Dallas | 40 | 27 | 116.7 | 110.9 | +5.8 |
| Houston | 40 | 24 | 113.6 | 110.2 | +3.4 |
| Utah | 41 | 23 | 112.8 | 109.4 | +3.3 |
| Denver | 43 | 22 | 112.6 | 109.6 | +3.0 |
| Oklahoma City | 40 | 24 | 111.7 | 109.4 | +2.3 |
| New Orleans | 28 | 36 | 111.9 | 111.6 | +0.3 |
| Memphis | 32 | 33 | 109.5 | 110.7 | -1.2 |
| Portland | 29 | 37 | 112.8 | 114.2 | -1.4 |
| San Antonio | 27 | 36 | 111.9 | 113.3 | -1.4 |
| Phoenix | 26 | 39 | 110.5 | 112.3 | -1.7 |
Who’s Out?
The following players/coaches have opted out of returning to Orlando for the remainder of the season:
Avery Bradley, Los Angeles Lakers
Bojan Bogdanovic, Utah Jazz
Bradley Beal, Washington Wizards
Davis Bertans, Washington Wizards
DeAndre Jordan, Brooklyn Nets
LaMarcus Aldridge, San Antonio Spurs
Spencer Dinwiddie, Brooklyn Nets
Thabo Sefolosha, Houston Rockets
Trevor Ariza, Portland Trail Blazers
Victor Oladipo, Indiana Pacers
Willie Cauley-Stein, Dallas Mavericks
Wilson Chandler, Brooklyn Nets
Lionel Hollins, assistant coach L.A. Lakers
NBA DFS Impact
The impact of COVID-19 in the NBA DFS landscape will be heavy, at least in the regular-season games. It’s likely we’ll see more minutes allocated to “end-of-the-bench” type players. I’m expecting rotations to be slightly deeper, particularly for teams with little to play for. I would expect stars to see a reduction in their minutes. LeBron James averaged 35 minutes per game before the hiatus. I would be shocked if he was near that number in the eight-game restart. Even if that drops by four minutes, we’re talking about roughly six fantasy points. That type of swing is massive at the top.
The other major wrinkle for the NBA return is happening on FanDuel. This season, FanDuel had no late-swap mechanism for their contests. Since games will be played throughout the day, FanDuel has added late swap for the remainder of the regular season. Keep this in mind if you normally play on FanDuel.
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