Zion Williamson will get another chance on the opening night.

The injury kept him out of New Orleans’s appearance in the first game of the NBA season when Pelikan started the year in Toronto, but now the big-name rookie will be centered at Disney when the game continues – against the team who first found himself in the middle the NBA coronavirus situation.

New Orleans will be in the first game of the NBA season which continues on July 30, facing Utah at the Disney World complex near Orlando, Florida in the opening match of the doubleheader. And as was done the first night earlier this season – unlike the others, the match of the twin twins broadcast nationally will pit the Los Angeles Lakers against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Jazz is a logical story line for the first match back, after Utah All-Star center Rudy Gobert was the first player in the league to test positive for the corona virus – a development that forced the league to postpone the season on March 11. More than four and a half months will pass between the nights of the match in the NBA, but the league officially concluded Friday’s talks with the National Basketball Players Association regarding the requirements to restart the season and can therefore release an 88-list roster of so-called game seeding.

Finally, the game will continue in a season that begins with political strife between the NBA and China in October, the deaths of David Stern and Kobe Bryant in January, a pandemic that erupted in March and racial issues surrounding police brutality and other forms of division of inequality. the country was once again during most of the league closure.

“There is no question this season and frankly this year is one that we will never forget,” said NBPA executive director Michele Roberts. “Obviously, the virus came to us without prior warning and then we were faced with the prospect of losing the season.”

But with a strict medical protocol plan agreed, the league and its players believe it is safe to continue.

Players will start arriving at the Disney complex on July 7, will be tested every day once they get there, and can be away from their families for more than three months. Families are not expected to be allowed on-site at Disney until the start of the second round of the playoffs, which will begin in late August or early September.

“Everyone makes some kind of sacrifice,” Miami Heat striker Andre Iguodala said. “Many people in America do not have jobs now, and we have the opportunity to be a beacon of light, not only for one particular thing but also social injustice. We will explain that, people who are far from their families, understand that sacrifice … the better kindness of everything that our players stand for, including the game of basketball. “

For the 22 teams going to Disney, the settings of the eight whiteboard games will be mostly the same – one back-to-back for each club, with all games set to be played within the span of 16 days ending August. 14. The NBA will use three arenas at Disney, and apart from a list of two matches on the opening night there will be somewhere between four and seven matches played every day.

There will be some very unusual elements, with games starting as early as 1 p.m. on weekdays, 12:30 pm on weekends and most nights see the end with 9 p.m. tip-off – besides the NBA Finals game, an absolute scarcity for games played on the East coast.

The plan calls for 52 of the 88 featured games to be broadcast nationally, with 18 on TNT (including doubleheader night-opener), 17 on ESPN, 14 on NBA TV and three on ABC. Games will be displayed in the local market too.

Most of the arenas on the ESPN Wide World of Sports campus will be used for several matches every day, with no instructions scheduled for less than four separate hours in each of the three buildings – with the league giving time between matches for sanitation of everything can be contacted by players, coaches, or staff.

If the play-in tournament for seed No. 8 in both conferences required by the ninth team to finish in four teams in eighth, the matches in the best-of-two series will be conducted by team No. the need for sweeping will begin on August 15.

The NBA playoff will begin August 17, and the NBA Finals will begin September 30 with the possibility of Game 7 on October 13.