An aerial view of the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World, the site of the NBA Bubble games
League
National Basketball Association
Sport
Basketball
Duration
Exhibition scrimmages: July 22–28, 2020
Regular season "seeding" games: July 30 – August 14, 2020
Play-in tournament: August 15., 2020
NBA playoffs: August 17 – September 30, 2020
NBA Finals: September 30 – October 11, 2020
Number of teams
22
Total attendance
0 (held behind closed doors)
TV partner(s)
ABC, TNT, ESPN, NBA TV
Regular season seeding games
Top seed
Milwaukee Bucks (East)
Los Angeles Lakers (West)
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
NBA seasons
← 2018–19
2020–21 →
The 2020 NBA Bubble was the bio-secure bubble at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando, that was created by the National Basketball Association (NBA) to protect its players from the COVID-19 pandemic during the final eight games of the 2019–20 regular season and throughout the 2020 NBA playoffs. 22 out of the 30 NBA teams were invited to participate (the other eight had been eliminated from playoff contention) with games being held behind closed doors at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and the teams staying at Disney World hotels.[1]
The bubble was a $190 million investment by the NBA to protect its 2019–20 season, which was initially suspended by the pandemic on March 11, 2020.[2][3] The bubble recouped an estimated $1.5 billion in revenue.[3] In June, the NBA approved the plan to resume the season at Disney World, inviting the 22 teams that were within six games of a playoff spot when the season was suspended. The plan initially received a mixed reaction from players and coaches.
After playing three exhibition scrimmages inside the bubble in late July, the invited teams played eight additional regular season games to determine playoff seeding.[4][5] The playoffs began on August 17, and the NBA Finals began on September 30. During the playoffs, there were additional delays to the season prompted by activism related to the shooting of Jacob Blake. The season ended on October 11 when the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Miami Heat in six games. From the start of the resumed 2019–20 season until the end of the NBA Finals, the NBA ended with no recorded cases of COVID-19 for the teams participating in the bubble.
The NBA Bubble in some form has been made into a contingency plan for the NBA in future pandemics or major disease outbreaks.[6]
^Reynolds, Tim (June 4, 2020). "NBA Board of Governors approves 22-team restart of 2019–20 season". NBA.com. Associated Press. Archived from the original on September 24, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
^Mannix, Chris (July 21, 2020). "Free From Quarantine: The NBA Bubble Is A Unique Experience". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on September 24, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
^ ab@wojespn (October 28, 2020). "Sources: The NBA bubble in Orlando recouped $1.5B in revenue that would've been lost without restarting the season. Expenses for the bubble were $190M – $10M more than originally estimated" (Tweet). Retrieved October 28, 2020 – via Twitter.
^"Welcome to the bubble: Everything to know about the NBA's 22-team restart". ESPN.com. July 1, 2020. Archived from the original on September 24, 2020. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
^Stein, Marc (June 17, 2020). "N.B.A. Owners Set a July 31 Resvctart, All in Florida". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 10, 2020. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
^Woike, Dan (December 21, 2020). "Adam Silver says NBA is prepared to change plans if coronavirus protocols fail". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
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