Though a potential return date is not yet in sight, the NBA continues to make plans on how to proceed should they get the green light to return to basketball in the coming months. 

Among the questions hanging over the league is how to approach the conclusion of the regular season before proceeding with the playoffs? Should the season be over at 64-66 games played with standings frozen and seeding set, or should the league have a play-in tournament between the bottom few teams in each conference for the chance to jump in?

Currently, the Grizzlies are 3.5 games clear of the Pelicans, Blazers, and Kings in the West while Orlando is 5.5 games clear of Washington in the East. Late season pushes have happened before but those gaps are both quite wide for this late in the season. Still, Paul believes you have to give those teams that have been fighting, a fighting chance to make it or not. 

“You’ve got teams there at the bottom [of the West], the Pelicans, Portland Trail Blazers, they could possibly get in. I know there is 15-16 games left. Maybe you shorten that, but this is what the excitement at the end of the season is all about.”

Truth, Rachel Nichols and Richard Jefferson also discussed the upcoming episode of The Last Dance, which looks back at the 1993 NBA Finals matchup between the Bulls and Charles Barkley’s Phoenix Suns.

Sir Charles recently did some interviews and opined about the missed opportunity for Phoenix in losing Game 1 of the series at home, his and the team’s lack of aggressiveness in that game, and how the moment may have been “too big” for the Suns. The Truth, who himself waited 10-long years to get to The Finals and didn’t miss the opportunity to win a title at that moment related strongly to where Barkley was coming from. 

“I respect Charles for being honest about it,” Paul said. “That opportunity doesn’t come around too often and as an MVP player, you have to set the tone. Being that he’d been a great player all his career, made All-Star, finally won a MVP, finally got on a team at the stage of his career where he had an opportunity to win — you can’t take a backseat and play a different type of game at that point.” 

Watch Paul, RJ and Rachel discuss it below and watch The Jump weekdays at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN.