Adam Silver's plan to restart the NBA season passed a vote by the Board of Governors easily on Thursday. The league's owners approved it by a 29-1 vote. The lone holdout? The Portland Trail Blazers, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.
In May, Blazers guard Damian Lillard stated adamantly that he did not want to play in Orlando if he did not have a chance to reach the postseason. "If we come back and they're just like, 'We're adding a few games to finish the regular season,' and they're throwing us out there for meaningless games and we don't have a true opportunity to get into the playoffs, I'm going to be with my team because I'm a part of the team," Lillard said. "But I'm not going to be participating," Lillard said. "I'm telling you that right now. And you can put that [expletive] in there."
According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, though, Lillard was not the only reason for their vote, though they did consider the opinions of their players. He reports that the Blazers voted no because they "believed there were more competitive and innovative formats on table -- including those that addressed 2020 NBA Draft lottery odds based on regular-season game results in Orlando." That tracks considering the format that was chosen does indeed give the Blazers a chance to make the playoffs.
The play-in system that the NBA is using will allow the No. 9 seed in either conference a chance to play against the No. 8 seed for their playoff spot if they finish the truncated regular season within four games of them in the standings. It would require beating the No. 8 seed twice in a row, but it is possible.
The Blazers are currently locked in a three-way tie with the New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings for the No. 9 seed. The Memphis Grizzlies are currently the No. 8 seed, but if the new schedule is based on the existing schedule, they would have a very hard road through their final stretch of games. The Blazers, on the other hand, should have an easier schedule.
Despite their vote, the plan passed, and the Blazers will be forced to attend the restarted season in Orlando. That doesn't necessarily mean that Lillard and other top players will make the trip, but as of now, there is no concrete reason to believe that the Blazers would leave him in Portland. The expectation, despite their nay vote, should be that the Blazers do everything in their power to reach the postseason.
