DALLAS — Professional basketball is returning to Dallas. It may only be practice, but it's something.
The Dallas Mavericks will reopen its practice facility on Thursday, marking the official beginning of the teams slow climb back to basketball.
The Mavs are one of the final teams in the league to reopen its facility, after the NBA began allowing teams to do so May 8.
No NBA team has played a game since March 11, the same night the Mavs hosted the Denver Nuggets. That night, Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, the game with the Oklahoma City Thunder was postponed, and the league announced it was suspending the season indefinitely.
Now the NBA is inching closer to a return to play, with discussions centering around a bubble concept in Orlando, Florida. Whether all 30 teams will be involved, how the playoff format may potentially work, and other items are all being hashed out presently.
The Mavericks were in 7th place in the Western Conference standings when the season was suspended. They would be a playoff team if the common 16-team format was to hold true. Both 24-team and even 30-team play-in concepts have also been discussed.
