Where there is smoke; there is fire. Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie tweeted Thursday that he is hearing the NBA will resume the 2019-20 season on July 15. Dinwiddie’s tweet is consistent with what other players and team executives have heard. 

There has been no official announcement and nothing is set in stone as of yet, but it is believed that team practices could resume in mid-June with a target season start date of July 15. All indications are that the games would take place at a bubble site. The most likely locations are either Las Vegas or the Disney Resort in Orlando, Florida. It is possible that the NBA uses both locations.

More than half of the league’s 30 teams have reopened practice facilities where players have begun working out on an individual basis. The guidelines for reopening during the coronavirus crisis are stringent allowing only individual workouts. Players will need some sort of training camp-like situation for a few weeks to get back into playing shape to finish out the season.

The league is headed in that direction with team practices being held beginning in June. There will be at least a few weeks where teams can practice together and even scrimmage one another before resuming the season. 

Using July 15 as a start date, it is projected that the postseason and NBA Finals would be completed right around Labor Day. That would mean the NBA would be done just as college football and the NFL get into their seasons. The NBA would then have a few months off to prepare for the 2020-21 season which would most likely begin right around the Christmas holiday. 

NBA commissioner Adam Silver and the league are expected to issue guidelines that will permit teams to begin bringing players back to their areas. The guidelines are expected to be out by June 1. Teams will bring in players and continue individual workouts with two to three weeks of training camp before the season resumes. 

Rick Bouch