As much as the NBA sorely wants to help lead society back to normalcy, there remains too many questions about the Covid-19 virus itself to even be able to say what it would take at this point to re-start an NBA season.
That was the message from NBA commissioner Adam Silver following the league’s spring board of governors meeting Friday.
Silver said the league owners feel it is their obligation to be among the businesses that get the North American economy at least jump started and a return to the court would certainly serve that purpose but there are just too many unknowns regarding the virus right now to even begin planning for that.
“I would say the sense of our Board was that the safety, health, and well-being of our players, coaches, fans, everyone involved in our game, is paramount,” Silver said. “Based on the reports we have gotten from various outside officials, current public health officials, NBA and world-renowned infectious disease specialist Dr. David Ho at Columbia University and Disney CEO Bob Iger, that we are not in a position to make any decisions, and it’s unclear when we will be.”
Beyond that Silver and the NBA, just like the rest of the world, are in one great big holding pattern.
They know what they want to do but without knowing what steps to take to get to the point safely, they are unable to proceed.
Ho and Iger, who has his hands full dealing with the impact the coronavirus has had on Disney’s theme parks and cruise ships, and theatrical businesses, were guest speakers at the meeting.
“I think we’re not even at the point where we can say, ‘if only A, B, and C were met, then there’s a clear path,’ ” Silver said. “I think there’s still too much uncertainty at this point to say precisely how we move forward.”
That being said, Silver said it is far too early to give up on the 2019-20 season all together and that includes both the remainder of the regular season and a playoff format, whatever that would look like.
“We’re just not ready to set a date yet in terms of how long we could wait before we no longer would be able to continue this season,” Silver said. “I would just say everything is on the table, including potentially delaying the start of next season. Again, we just need more information.
“I mean, it’s clear that if we are to resume play, we’re looking at going significantly later than June, which is historically when our season and draft would have been completed,” Silver continued. “The direction that the league office has received from our teams is, again, all rules are off at this point given the situation we find ourselves in, that the country is in. If there is an opportunity to resume play, even if it looks different than what we’ve done historically, we should be modelling it.”
Silver said all talk of bringing the league together in one city and under one roof, one umbrella, to play games in an empty arena remains just that at this point, talk.
“In terms of bubble-like concepts, many of them have been proposed to us, and we’ve only listened,” Silver said. “We’re not seriously engaged yet in that type of environment because I can’t answer the first part of your question, which is, what precisely would we need to see in order to feel that that environment provided the needed health and safety for our players and everyone involved?”
NBA’S NEW G-LEAGUE TEAM
It doesn’t even have a name yet but the proposed landing spot for the up and coming one and done players looking to bypass the NCAA already has two players.
The consensus No. 1 high school senior in the United States Jalen Green as well as Isaiah Todd, another of the elite high school seniors in the U.S. have both committed to the league’s G-League development team that is still in the process of being formed.
It’s an avenue players with no intention of going beyond a year at the college level before entering the NBA draft can take and avoids them having to go overseas where the NBA would not have a say in what kind of development they would be receiving.
The players receive $500,000 for the year which is also better or competitive with anything they could find on the international basketball market.
“In the United States, the NCAA has made it clear that they would prefer that these so-called one-and-done players be on a professional path, either come directly into the NBA or are playing in some professional league,” Silver said.
By setting up this developmental team that will play exhibitions against G-League competition and be under the NBA’s guiding hand, the league feels they can better prepare these young men for the transition to the highest level of the game in the world.
QUICK HITS
Hamilton’s Kia Nurse is going to be getting some very talented help for her WNBA squad the New York Liberty. The Liberty with the first selection in last night’s draft selected Sabrina Ionescu, a 5-foot-11 guard out of Oregon. Ionescu is the NCAA all-time leader in career triple-doubles, the Pac-12 Conference all-time leader in assists, and the only NCAA Division I basketball player to record 2,000 points, 1,000 assists, and 1,000 rebounds in a career … While the league is no longer reporting on every positive test by a player for Covid-19 that comes up, Silver on Friday admitted the number of positives is beyond the seven that the league announced before they changed their policy.
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