NBA set to return in December with 72-game season

By Emre Asikci

ISTANBUL (AA) - The upcoming NBA season is set to start on Dec. 22, the league and the union confirmed on Monday night.

Under the deal the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association forged, the season will come back with a 72 game-schedule for each team, rather than 82 games.

Negotiations with free agents will be allowed to start at 6 p.m. on Nov. 20, they said in a statement, adding that signing will be permitted at 12:01 p.m. on Nov. 22, calling it "an extraordinarily fast window for the NBA, which typically has about a week spanning the start of talks and the beginning of signings."

Also, the salary cap and tax level will remain unchanged. The cap was $109.14 million the past season, with the tax level at $ 132,627,000.

In October, the Los Angeles Lakers from the Western Conference won the 2020 NBA title, defeating the Miami Heat from the East 4-2 in finals series.

Hit by the coronavirus pandemic, the 2019-20 NBA season became one of the most extraordinary seasons in the league's history.

The virus forced the organizers to pause the season in March.

On July 30, the teams resumed play in a secluded complex in Florida popularly known as the Orlando Bubble, where they also lived and practiced.