NBA restart schedule set with Nets opening July 31 against Magic in first of eight games

The NBA on Friday night revealed the schedule for the resumption of the season, setting the eight seeding games to prepare for the postseason.

Restarting a season that was suspended on March 11 because of the coronavirus, 22 teams, including the Nets, will convene at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando. As long as disaster doesn’t strike with a number of positive tests, the seeding games will begin July 30 and end Aug. 14, with a possible play-in set of games being held Aug. 15 and 16.

As the league crosses its fingers and tries to navigate a way safely through the schedule, 22 teams will be included:   the 16 that already held a spot in the postseason when the schedule was suspended and six teams that were four games or less out of a playoff berth. That allowed the league to include Zion Williamson, one of its biggest attractions, even if New Orleans was out of the playoff picture.

It was no surprise that the NBA placed Williamson in the first game on the schedule, in a matchup between the Jazz and Pelicans on July 30, with the Clippers and Lakers coming up next on that opening night.

It will be similar to the Las Vegas Summer League, with a maximum of seven games per day on three different courts, beginning at noon, with the last game tipping off at 9 p.m.

The Nets will open July 31 at 2:30 p.m. against the Magic, followed by a meeting with the Wizards on Aug. 2 before back-to-back games against the Bucks and Celtics. They then will face the Kings, Clippers, Magic and Trail Blazers.

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.