There's One Main Reason the NBA Is Set to Return So Quickly

Are you ready for some basketball?

It went away for a minute … seriously.

Just over two months after the confetti fell in an empty arena to celebrate the Lakers championship, the NBA will return to the floor. On Thursday the NBA players union tentatively approved a Dec. 22 start date, paving the way for a 72-game season—and the shortest offseason in NBA history.

Those surprised this proposal sailed so effortlessly through the union ranks need only point to the public comments. Of Michele Roberts, who for months suggested to SI and others that a 2020 restart was unlikely. To Danny Green, the Lakers guard who scoffed at the idea of restarting the season in December, suggesting his teammate,…