2019–20 NBA season
The 2019–20 NBA season was the 74th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The regular season began on October 22, 2019, and originally was supposed to end on April 15, 2020. The 2020 NBA All-Star Game was played on February 16, at the United Center in Chicago, and was won by Team LeBron, 157–155. The playoffs were originally scheduled to begin on April 18, and end with the NBA Finals in June.
| 2019–20 NBA season | |
|---|---|
| League | National Basketball Association |
| Sport | Basketball |
| Duration |
|
| Number of games |
|
| Number of teams | 30 |
| TV partner(s) | ABC, TNT, ESPN, NBA TV |
| Draft | |
| Top draft pick | Zion Williamson |
| Picked by | New Orleans Pelicans |
| Regular season | |
| Top seed | Milwaukee Bucks |
| Season MVP | Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee) |
| Top scorer | James Harden (Houston) |
| Playoffs | |
| Eastern champions | Miami Heat |
| Eastern runners-up | Boston Celtics |
| Western champions | Los Angeles Lakers |
| Western runners-up | Denver Nuggets |
| Finals | |
| Champions | Los Angeles Lakers |
| Runners-up | Miami Heat |
| Finals MVP | LeBron James (L.A. Lakers) |
The season was suspended on March 11 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of the suspension, teams had played between 63 and 67 games.
On June 4, the NBA Board of Governors approved a plan to restart the season on July 30, and the National Basketball Players Association approved this plan the next day. Under the plan, 22 teams played eight additional regular season games to determine playoff seeding, and 16 teams entered a conventional postseason tournament. All of these games took place in the NBA Bubble, an isolation zone specifically created for NBA operations at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida.
On August 26, the season was suspended for a second time by a wildcat strike, to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake and police brutality, during the playoffs. Play resumed three days later on August 29. The Finals ended on October 11, 2020, 355 days after the October 22, 2019, regular season opening day, and 377 days after the first pre-season games on September 30, 2019. This was the longest season in NBA history.