Hawks GM: NBA hinting at condensed schedule for 2020-21 season

The NBA told general managers that next season's schedule could be condensed in order to stick as closely as possible to the league's usual timeline, Atlanta Hawks GM Travis Schlenk said Tuesday, according to ESPN's Tim Bontemps.

Teams may play more back-to-backs and could be more likely to suit up for four games in five nights, Schlenk added.

"Because of this circumstance, I think the league wants to stay as close to its original schedule as possible. There's a lot of different reasons for that - the college season, the draft, and how all of that plays out," Schlenk told reporters, including Bontemps. "So that's why they've laid out a timeline where it would be a very quick turnaround from the NBA Finals to the start of the season."

The executive noted that the league is still planning for an 82-game regular season in 2020-21, according to USA Today's Mark Medina.

This season featured an all-time-low number of back-to-backs, marking the fifth consecutive campaign in which the league has reduced such sets.

The original schedule for the 2019-20 regular season spanned 177 days, according to ESPN's Bobby Marks. If the 2020-21 campaign is an identical length and starts on Dec. 1 as currently scheduled, the playoffs would likely conflict with the start of the Tokyo Olympic Games, Bontemps notes.