Live basketball is finally set to return on StarTimes, after a hiatus of nearly five months.
The NBA 2019/20 season is restarting on July 30th, with the ESPN channel broadcasting the games in Africa.
After the coronavirus postponed the NBA season, these NBA games would be unlike any previous year. Social distancing requirements means that fans will not be in attendance and all the games would be played at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, inside Disney Worldin Orlando, Florida.
Only the best 22 of the league’s 30 teams will participate. Each team will play eight games to finish the regular season. From these, the top seven teams in each conference will advance, with the final eighth seed in each conference being deter- mined by a potential play-in tournament before the traditional 16-team playoffs.
LeBron James’ LA Lakers are the outstanding favourites to take the title. When the NBA season was postponed, the Lakers sat atop the West with a 49-14 mark.
In the West, the other contender is the Clippers. Prior to the beginning of the 2019- 20 season, the Clippers were considered to be favourites to win the title after their impressive offseason where they added Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
The only squad with a better mark than the Lakers is the Milwaukee Bucks. Led by the “Greek Freak” Giannis Antetokounmpo, they have benefited from playing in the significantly weaker Eastern Conference.