2019-20 NBA Award Voting to Be Held Ahead of Season Restart

The NBA announced awards voting for the 2019-20 season will begin Tuesday and continue through July 28.

"The decision to exclude seeding games from awards voting ensures a fair process in which players and coaches from all 30 NBA teams will have the same opportunity to be honored as top performers for the 2019-20 regular season," NBA president of league operations Byron Spruell said in a statement.

The league's announcement confirms previous reporting by Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, who added that the stats players accumulate in seeding games from Orlando, Florida, will count toward their regular-season totals. 

Individual award announcements will be broadcast on TNT during the NBA playoffs. This announcement acts as a soft cancellation of the 2020 NBA Awards show, which has been held the last three years.

While some of the year-end awards could have gone down to the wire over the last quarter of the regular season, most appear to be settled. Giannis Antetokounmpo should run away with his second straight MVP despite LeBron James' rise after the All-Star break, and Zion Williamson's bid to come from behind to win the Rookie of the Year will almost certainly fall short to Ja Morant's season-long brilliance.

Defensive Player of the Year and Most Improved Player could have the closest votes among player awards. Antetokounmpo looks like a solid bet to become the third same-season MVP-DPOY in NBA history after Michael Jordan (1988) and Hakeem Olajuwon (1994), but Anthony Davis and Rudy Gobert are also in contention for the award.

Most Improved Player will probably come down to Bam Adebayo and Brandon Ingram, though Luka Doncic's ascent into superstardom deserves some recognition. 

The NBA did not give firm dates for the announcements.