The NBA’s board of governors will reportedly approve the league’s return-to-play proposal Thursday. The plan includes 22 teams (13 from the Western Conference and nine from the Eastern Conference) eight regular-season games, a possible play-in tournament for the eighth seed, and playoffs – all at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando.
While the top two teams in each conference – the Bucks (53-12), Raptors (46-18), Lakers (49-14), and Clippers (44-20) – prepare for deep postseason runs, NBA TV analyst Sekou Smith believes at least one team could surprise.
“The one team I’m keeping my eye on to see how they’ve managed this downtime is Denver,” Smith told JR SportBrief. “They were a team that was kind of up-and-down: performing at a high level one minute and then they would struggle a little bit. But you look at the standings and they’re right where they expected themselves to be: battling out for one of those top spots in the West.”
Denver (43-22), has the third-best record in the West. Six Nuggets are averaging double figures, as Nikola Jokic leads the team in scoring (20.2 points per game), rebounds (10.2) and assists (6.9).
“If they come back energized, healthy, focused, I think they could be a team that’s really dangerous,” Smith said. “We’re talking about a completely different calendar they’re working with. A lot of adjustments will have to made by teams, by coaching staffs, and organizations in terms fo how you manage playing at this satellite location. I think that’s going to be a huge wrinkle that every team involved will have to deal with.”