In a surprise to no one, the Golden Gate Warriors' season has effectively ended as word arrives that the NBA will be resuming the 2019-20 season without them in Orlando.
The season will proceed into playoffs with 22 teams — 13 from the Western Conference and 9 from the Eastern Conference — with eight regular season games followed by playoffs at the The Walt Disney World Resort. As ESPN is reporting, the NBA's board of governors will take a final vote and is expected to approve the plan on Thursday.
According to sources, there will also be a possible play-in tournament for the eighth seed in the playoffs.
The teams moving ahead to complete the season, without fans in attendance, are the eight top-seeded teams in each of the conferences as March, as well as six teams that are within six games of eighth place — Sacramento, San Antonio, New Orleans, Phoenix, Portland, and Washington.
Training is set to begin in July, and it's not yet clear when the first live games will be played. Per ESPN, the league is planning to do daily COVID-19 testing on all the players, who will be sequestered within the Walt Disney World Resort campus for the duration of the season. If a player tests positive, they will be quarantined, and the team will continue to play on while also being monitored and tested.
As the Chronicle reports, the Golden State Warriors organization had already gone into off-season mode, not expecting to be included in any continued NBA season. Without any of its star players, save for a few games that were rejoined by a previously injured Steph Curry, the Warriors had a league-worst record of 15-50 when the NBA suspended the season on March 11.
But, the Warriors are beginning individual workouts back at the Chase Center as of this week, and the 2020-21 season, whenever it begins, is expected to feature the full line-up of Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andrew Wiggins.
The team also has the NBA draft to look forward to on June 25, as well as fresh seasons for young players Marquese Chriss and Eric Paschall, who was a 41st overall draft pick in 2019.
