i wouldve preferred they just take the 1-8 from each conference as is and move on but the NBA got a lot of money to recoup and they really want Zion or a healthy Portland in the playoffs

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22 teams, 13 from the west, 9 from the east. everybody plays 8 regular season games to close things out and get some warmup for the playoffs.

extra teams will be New Orleans, Portland, Phoenix, Sacramento and San Antonio in the West and Washington in the East.

after the 8 games:
- If 9th seed is 4 or more games back, 8th seed earns spot
- If 9th seed is 4 or fewer games behind, play-in: Single-elimination for 9th seed, double-elimination for 8th.
(the 4 game thing is to make up for the fact that they wont get the change to play the full 15 remaining games they actually had)

remainder of the season would run to 10/12 at the latest

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29260860/sources-nba-approve-plan-22-team-return-eight-regular-season-games