The NBA's Global Innovation Group is considering several scenarios for how to conduct its 20-21 season, including one that wouldn't begin until March and would run through October 2021.

If there is a path to a COVID-19 vaccine or therapeutic treatment that increases the likelihood that teams could play games in their home arenas over an 82-game schedule, the NBA could then delay the season until March.

The NBA would benefit from gate revenue, but could lose out on media revenue if it overlaps with the 2021 Summer Olympics scheduled for July 23 through August 8. The NBA could break in July for the Olympics. 

Under the March-October scenario, the league would execute a rolling schedule release as opposed to releasing the entire schedule before the season starts as it would under normal circumstances.

The Global Innovation Group has three other scenarios, which all call for the 20-21 season to begin in December and run through July 2021 with variability based on the state of COVID-19. One of those scenarios involves returning to the bubble with no more than 20 teams playing within it at any given time.