NBA to return July 31st, NHL to follow?

It’s *almost* official. The NBA is coming back.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski dropped one of his world famous Woj Bombs earlier today when he reported that the NBA will resume play in Orlando, Florida on July 31st.

Check it out:

So the NBA's inviting 22 teams to Orlando: 13 Western Conference, 9 Eastern Conference. Eight-regular season games per team. Play-in for the 8th seeds. July 31-October 12. Vote tomorrow to ratify.
The NBA's back.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 3, 2020

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is expected to present his league’s restart plan to the league’s board of governors during a conference call Thursday morning. It’s expected that both the board of governors and the NBA Players Association will ratify the agreement.

The NBA’s Return to Play will see 22 teams, including the 16 teams currently in playoff spots plus six teams on the playoff bubble. All 22 teams will play an eight game regular-season schedule to determine final playoff positions and seeding. Should any team on the outside of the playoffs looking in be within four points of an 8th place team, those two teams will have a play-in tournament for the final spot. The ninth-place team would need to beat the eighth-place team twice to advance.

If you’re a hockey fan this has to be seen as encouraging news. So… when do we drop the puck?

The NHL has released its plan to return to play but so far we’ve been kept in the dark with regards to scheduling. With the NBA throwing specific dates out there, how soon until the NHL does the same?

For more details on the NBA's return, click below: