Adam

Silver

The Nets already gave Kyrie a list of conditions to meet, but it was expected he would meet with the commissioner at some point before reinstatement. There’s been no report on Irving’s progress in satisfying the Nets’ requirements, but he may be headed in the right direction after this meeting with Silver. For fantasy managers in need, Cam Thomas has been a sturdy streamer in Irving’s absence.

The two sides are “expected to agree” on lowering the draft-eligibility age, which would enable elite high school players to skip college and sign in the NBA. The league’s official injury report may also include new designations for mental health issues, reducing stigma and giving mental health parity with physical health. Other topics are up for discussion, including the creation of a player-controlled fund to create “generational wealth” for players. Crucially, it seems the NBA and NBPA are having productive talks to settle on a new agreement before December.

Najafi’s letter holds a ton of weight and could eventually lead to Sarver stepping down. Multiple NBA players, including LeBron James and Chris Paul, have spoken out about the NBA’s punishment not being severe enough. The league fined Sarver $10 million and suspended him for one year. If enough people push for Sarver to resign, it could happen sooner rather than later.

With the majority owner and team governor Robert Sarver suspended for one year and fined $10 million for a history of abusive comments, the Suns needed to appoint someone to serve as the interim governor. According to ESPN, Garvin will fill that void, with Silver having approved the plan Wednesday evening. Since Sarver’s punishment was announced, multiple people within the NBA community have said that Silver was too lenient, including Chris Paul, LeBron James, and NBPA executive director Tamika Tremaglio.

The tournament would involve Cup games through November, with eight teams advancing to December for single elimination matches. Charania notes that the games will be part of the NBA’s regular 82-game schedule with the two finalists each playing one extra game. This shouldn’t impact fantasy hoops too much since the tourney games are baked into the schedule, but this is something exciting for NBA fans to enjoy between opening night and February’s All-Star break.

Vaccinated players only have to undergo testing if they show symptoms, isolation will be required immediately after testing positive, but no facemasks will be required this season. Unvaccinated players are still ineligible to play in Toronto, as we saw in the playoffs with Matisse Thybulle. While COVID-19 shouldn’t have as big of an impact as it did last season around Christmas, it could be something to consider when drafting Thybulle or Kyrie Irving, since they’ll be subject to weekly testing.

The matchups will include Boston vs. Miami, the Battle of Los Angeles (Clippers vs. Lakers), Brooklyn vs. Philadelphia, Memphis vs. Golden State, Chicago vs. Charlotte, Dallas vs. Phoenix, Memphis vs. Minnesota, Toronto vs. Golden State, Denver vs. Philadelphia, New York vs. Brooklyn and L.A. (Lakers) vs. Boston.

“The league says the scheduling decision came out of the NBA family’s focus on promoting nonpartisan civic engagement and encouraging fans to make a plan to vote during midterm elections.” As far as the fantasy impact, make sure you take this into account when setting your lineups that week. Every team will play the night before in a themed “civic engagement night”.

We’ve already seen a handful of leaks, like the Opening Night matchups and Christmas Day games, as well as a few other notables. We’re very close to having the entire schedule. We’ll be able to see when Dejounte Murray makes his return to San Antonio, when Malcolm Brogdon plays in Indiana, and many more noteworthy games. We’ll also be able to see the full national TV schedule, and which teams get the most games. Get ready to make your calendars.

The full Christmas slate of games has already been released, and it was recently announced that the Suns and Mavs would face off in their season opener. NBA fans only have a short wait until they can peruse the full-year schedule in its entirety.