NBA Announces Orlando Schedule; Vince Carter Retires After 22 Years

The NBA has announced its plan for completing the 2019-20 season and playoffs in Orlando. The season was suspended in mid March due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A total of 22 teams will restart the season, based on their records when play was suspended; the remaining eight teams are done for the season. Each of the 22 teams will play eight “seeding games” to help determine playoff position. These games were selected from the teams’ remaining matchups at the time play was suspended.

All games will be played at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex Walt Disney World in Orlando, with no fans in attendance. The seeding games will begin with two games on July 30th and six on July 31st. The NBA Finals will end no later than October 13th. The NBA Draft Lottery is scheduled for August 25th, with the draft itself on October 16th. The projected start of the 2020-21 NBA regular season is December 1st, 2020. Even before the Covid-19 outbreak, there has been talk of moving the start of the NBA season to December, so this will be a chance to try out such a schedule.

The NBA will have strict health protocols in place in its essentially isolated community; nonetheless, the league will be trying to do a restart in a state where infections are soaring.

While the NBA announced its return, a future Hall of Fame player announced his departure. With the Atlanta Hawks not making the field of 22, 43 year old Vince Carter announced his retirement. An eight time All-Star, Carter began his career with the Toronto Raptors in the 1998-99 season and was the NBA Rookie of the Year. He also played for New Jersey, Orlando, Phoenix, Dallas, Memphis, Sacramento, and Atlanta. Carter averaged 16.7 points per game in his career, a figure that would have been higher except for the fact that his average had dropped below 10 points per game in his last six seasons in a reduced role. Carter’s 1541 games played is third in NBA history behind Robert Parish (1611) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1560).

Here’s a brief look at Vince Carter in action:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=uar3frZqnTc