OKC Thunder: Key calendar events if December 22nd is season start

How a December 22nd NBA 2020-21 start date would affect the OKC Thunder calendar of events.

OKC Thunder fans are eagerly awaiting several decisions regarding their team heading into next season. At the top of that list is who’ll coach the club and a very close second is when the 2020-21 season will begin. The NBA Board of Governors is leaning toward a December 22nd start while the players preferred the MLK Jr. January 18th start date.

As we noted in our recent article the final decision seems to be coming down to dollars and cents which is why the expectation of a December 22nd opening night is expected to get approved either today or tomorrow.

There are significant events that will fall out from the start date the most important of which would be the NBA Free Agency Moratorium and individual team training camps.

OKC Thunder key dates if December 22 is season start

As per Adrian Wojnarowski, some of the top line dates would include team training camps beginning on December 1st.

Considering the NBA Draft will occur on November 18th that would mean a rookie would get 12 days from the night of the draft until meeting up with the rest of his team.

In some ways that might be a positive given how long the prospects haven’t played organized ball. On the other hand, it doesn’t allow for the Thunder organization, coaching staff, and prospect to define areas for the player to work on before the start of training camp.

Typically, training camps last approximately a few weeks with preseason games occurring at the end. In recent years the Thunder has typically held the initial portion of their camp, played their preseason games, and conducted ongoing training/practice sessions between those preseason dates.

With December 22nd being ring night (NBA season opener) the OKC Thunder would likely play on December 23rd. In recent years the league hasn’t played games on Christmas Eve and perhaps that may change this season but with the constraints of a tight calendar, the association may have several teams (who will be off on Christmas Day) play the night prior.

The season would consist of a reduced 72-game season, no All-Star Game, and would endeavor to have schedules focus on playing teams located in similar areas during the same road trip. That’s already something we tend to witness but the NBA will go to even greater efforts this season.

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For example, it’s not unusual to play the Lakers and Clippers on the same road trip, the Knicks and Nets, or the Magic and Heat. However, what we might see this season is multiple games occurring in LA such as a road trip featuring two games apiece against the Lakers, Clippers, Kings, and Warriors. Essentially, an extended road trip (in terms of the number of dates) than typical but all in predominantly the same proximity on the map.

Although no word has been forthcoming on free agency it’s anticipated it will begin immediately after the draft.

With the success of the play-in tournament, the league is also looking at replicating that effort next season which could impact the Thunder. The playoffs would then run from the end of May until the end of July (22nd start and end date).

This calendar would also allow for two very important future dates. The first and most important is it would get the NBA back on schedule for the 2021-22 season with hopefully the ability to have a full house of fans again. The other key event is the Toyko Olympics and playing to this calendar would allow stars from America and many other nations to play with their national teams.