A whole new world The NBA relaunches its 2019-2020 season today with 22 teams based inside a secure “bubble” at Disney World in Florida due to complete the remainder of the campaign. KEYS TO THE PLAY-OFF KINGDOM Each of the 22 teams will play eight games. This will be added to their regular season results to decide which 16 teams enter the playoffs, which are scheduled to begin on Aug 16. If the eighth and ninth seed are separated by less than four games, there will be a play-in tournament to decide who advances to the playoffs. In this best-of-two series, the No. 9 seed must win both games while the No. 8 seed only needs to win the rst. The NBA bubble costs about US$1.5 million (S$2.06 million) a day to operate. CAST OF CHARACTERS Western Eastern conference conference Record Record Rank Team (Win-Loss) Rank Team (Win-Loss) 1 Los Angeles Lakers 49-14 1 Milwaukee Bucks 53-12 2 Los Angeles Clippers 44-20 2 Toronto Raptors 46-18 3 Denver Nuggets 43-22 3 Boston Celtics 43-21 4 Utah Jazz 41-23 4 Miami Heat 41-24 5 Oklahoma City Thunder 40-24 5 Indiana Pacers 39-26 6 Houston Rockets 40-24 6 Philadelphia 76ers 39-26 7 Dallas Mavericks 40-27 7 Brooklyn Nets 30-34 8 Memphis Grizzlies 32-33 8 Orlando Magic 30-35 9 Portland Trail Blazers 29-37 9 Washington Wizards 24-40 10 New Orleans Pelicans 28-36 11 Sacramento Kings 28-36 NOTE: Teams not invited are Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland 12 San Antonio Spurs 27-36 Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks, 13 Phoenix Suns 26-39 Golden State Warriors and Minnesota Timberwolves. STAR PLAYERS NOT PLAYING Kevin Durant (Nets) Bojan Bogdanovic (Jazz) Kyrie Irving (Nets) Bradley Beal (Wizards) LEBRON JAMES, 35 DeAndre Jordan (Nets) Davis Bertans (Wizards) GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO, 25 A fourth championship ring for LeBron James would make him the most LaMarcus Aldridge (Spurs) Trevor Ariza (Trail Blazers) If Giannis Antetokounmpo can lead the Bucks to the NBA Finals and claim successful among active players and also help in the greatest of all time Avery Bradley (Lakers) Thabo Sefolosha (Rockets) an unlikely victory, it would cement his status as the league’s best player. debate. At 35, the Lakers star would also become just the third player to The Greek could also win the Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of win titles with three different teams, joining Robert Horry and John Salley, the Year awards in the same season, something only Michael Jordan, after his triumphs with the Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers. Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Kevin Garnett have managed. UPCOMING BLOCKBUSTERS V V V V V Los Angeles Lakers Los Angeles Clippers Boston Celtics Milwaukee Bucks Miami Heat Denver Nuggets Memphis Grizzlies New Orleans Pelicans Toronto Raptors Philadelphia 76ers July 31, 9am (Singapore time) Aug 1, 6.30am Aug 2, 1am Aug 4, 6.30am Aug 13, 6.30am Sources: NBA STRAITS TIMES GRAPHICS & ILLUSTRATIONS: BRYANDT LYN, CEL GULAPA.