The Chicago Bulls can now sit and watch as the NBA should be having its season coming back in the midst of the playoffs this weekend.
The NBA season took a turn on Aug. 26 in the midst of more social unrest and activism in response to the events occurring in Wisconsin earlier this week. All of the three games that were set to take place on Aug. 26 were not played in the wake of the events that happened earlier this week. Following that, the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers reportedly (sources for ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski) were taking a vote not to continue the season as a whole. While this news was something that clearly had an impact stemming beyond the Chicago Bulls and the entire NBA, it is relevant to conversation in the midst of the bubble restart.
But it didn’t take long for the NBA season to get back on track on Aug. 27. It appears that the NBA playoffs will be back up and running by Aug. 29, although they might not be occurring on Aug. 28.
That would mean the first round getting pushed back more than three days from when it was originally supposed to happen.
The Clippers and Lakers voting on perhaps not continuing with the season was considered more of a polling, than a final vote, sources tell ESPN. The resumption of the playoffs remains still up in the air.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 27, 2020
ESPN Sources: Several key members of Lakers -- and some peers around league -- stayed up until early AM hours talking through issues in The Bubble. Among key players in league heading into 11 AM meeting, there's optimism about a majority of players wanting to continue playoffs.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 27, 2020
Conversations have been ongoing throughout the morning among owners, league executives, coaches and players about how the league can restart these playoffs, sources tell ESPN. The players and Board of Governors have separate meetings set to start now.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 27, 2020
All but one of the playoff matchups in the first round on the Eastern Conference side of the bracket was wrapped up before these delays, starting on Aug. 26. The Milwaukee Bucks were both the first team to announce they would be sitting out of a game on Tuesday afternoon/night, but the other five teams followed suit. They are also the only team in the East not to have won their series yet.
It now seems all but certain - though not officially announced yet - that no NBA postseason games will be played Friday and the playoffs will resume Saturday.
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) August 28, 2020
The Miami Heat took care of business by sweeping the Indiana Pacers, just as the Toronto Raptors did with the Brooklyn Nets and the Boston Celtics did with the Philadelphia 76ers.
But on the Western Conference side of the bracket, the Lakers have yet to take care of business officially against the Portland Trail Blazers, and the Clippers haven’t got past the Dallas Mavericks yet.
The Bulls finished up the 2019-20 season with a record of 22-43 before their campaign came to an end after a March 10 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. They now have to sit and wait to see what happens throughout the rest of the playoffs.