NBA clarifies rules in case of a tie in 2019-2020 season reformat

The NBA Board of Governors has approved Commissioner Adam Silver's proposal to resume NBA games starting July 31, in Disney World Orlando, Florida. Because of time constraints, only 22 teams will continue to compete for the 2019-2020 championship. In case of a tie in the seeding rounds, the winning percentage will be used as a tiebreaker. This was announced in a memo released by the NBA last Friday.

The "seeding rounds" are eight games played by each of the 22 remaining teams against each other. The results of the seeding rounds and the current standings before the March 11 suspension will determine the final outcome of the 2019-2020 regular season and the basis for the playoff spots.

According to NBA.com, because there are uneven schedules, if there are still teams tied after the seeding rounds and their winning percentage is the same, a tiebreaker mini-tournament is possible.

Under the seeding round format, teams such as the Dallas Mavericks will end up playing 75 regular-season games. There are also teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and San Antonio Spurs, who will only play 71 games.

The schedule and match-up for the 22 teams have not yet been revealed, and the NBA hopes to finalise it within the coming weeks.

The last time some teams did not complete the 82 regular-season games was in the 2012-2013 season, when the game between the Boston Celtics and Indiana Pacers was cancelled in response to the Boston Marathon Bombing. While both teams only had 81 games, it did not impact the playoff seeding in the entire conference.

As of now, 9 teams in the Eastern Conference and 13 from the West have been invited to continue the season. Only the top eight teams in their respective conferences and those 6 wins or less behind the eighth-placed teams will resume their campaign for the NBA Championship.

Reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo's team, the Milwaukee Bucks, is currently the top seed in the East. The Greek Freak will have a chance to win back-to-back MVP awards. Former MVPs and candidates, James Harden of the Houston Rockets and LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers, also have an opportunity to add one more MVP to their resume. Young sophomore Luka Doncic is another MVP candidate that could even win his first MVP this year.