Season halted for “at least 30 days”

NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced Thursday night that the league’s suspension would be “most likely at least 30 days” while speaking on TNT for the first time since Wednesday’s landmark decision.

“We don’t know enough to be more specific in that,” Silver said. “But we wanted to give direction to our players and teams and to our fans that this is going to be roughly at least a month. But then the question becomes, is there a protocol, frankly, with or without fans, in which we can resume play?”

Silver acknowledged the possibility of canceling the season still exists, but he made it sound like there was momentum to re-start, or at least re-assess the situation, after 30 days.

“It might mean that the Finals take place in July, late July, just my feeling was it was way premature to suggest that we had lost the season,” Silver said.

As the NBA reckons with its new reality caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Nuggets have implemented a 3-to-4-day selfquarantine policy where no players or staff are to use the team’s facilities, according to a source.

There were no plans for Nuggets players to be tested for COVID-19 as of Thursday, according to the source, after the team traveled home from Dallas late Wednesday night.

Teams received a memo from the NBA on Thursday afternoon instructing players to remain in their home market at least through March 16 and encouraging them to stay at home as much as possible, a source confirmed. The memo detailed that players weren’t allowed to hold group practices or activities.

The NBA also sent a memo last Saturday that mandates its franchises have an arrangement with an infectious disease specialist available for consultations, a facility available for COVID-19 testing, and a plan to limit the number of staffers who come into close contact with the players.