– Media Panel to Select the Kia NBA All-Seeding Games Team and the Kia NBA Player of the Seeding Games –

Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard (2) and Lakers’ LeBron James (23) face off in Christmas Day showdown at STAPLES Center. (Robert Torrence/L.A.Sentinel)

The NBA announced today that it will name the Kia NBA All-Seeding Games Team and the Kia NBA Player of the Seeding Games to honor top performers for games played July 30 – Aug. 14 during the 2019-20 season restart at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

A panel of sportswriters and broadcasters who have been on site covering the season restart will select the Kia NBA All-Seeding Games Team and the Kia NBA Player of the Seeding Games.  The media panel will vote for five players for the All-Seeding Games First Team and five players for the All-Seeding Games Second Team, choosing a total of 10 players at any position from either conference.

Each NBA team participating in the season restart is playing eight seeding games, which conclude Friday, Aug. 14.  The Kia NBA All-Seeding Games Team and the Kia NBA Player of the Seeding Games will be announced Saturday, Aug. 15 before Game 1 of the Western Conference Play-In, which tips off at 2:30 p.m. ET on ABC.  Game 2 of the Play-In, if necessary, will take place Sunday, Aug. 16 at 4:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.  The 2020 NBA Playoffs will begin Monday, Aug. 17.

The NBA previously announced the 2019-20 finalists for the Kia NBA Performance Awards and the NBA Coach of the Year.  Voting by a media panel for those awards, in addition to the All-NBA Team, NBA All-Rookie Team and NBA All-Defensive Team, was based on games played from the start of the regular season through March 11 and did not include seeding games.