"The N.B.A. will formally present a return-to-play plan to its team owners on Thursday that calls for 22 of its 30 teams to resume the 2019-20 season at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida in late July, according to several people familiar with the league’s intentions.
It's official now, voting passed, result was 29-1. Only ones that were against the proposal were Blazers. There are few othe other decisions:
Why do they get all those teams from the west but not from the east? I didn't see an explanation on why some teams are playing and some teams are not. If it is about title contention possibility, we have Suns playing, nobody thinks they are going to win anything or even be in playoffs.
There is one team from the East, Wizards. Simply put, those teams with realistic chances to qualify for playoff will play those 8 games, and those that don't have chances won't continue, as there is no point.
Regarding Phoenix, they have more wins than any other Easter teams below 8th spot so I wouldn't call them total crap. They didn't choose teams that will continue based on titles win, but on chances to finish in top 8. Check the standings and you will see why it makes sense to include them and not Hornets or Bulls from the East. For example, Hornets are 7 games behind Orlando Magic that holds 8th spot in the East, and only 8 games are left to play.
In the other news, NBA announced that draft lottery will be held on August 15th, and draft on October 15th.