Fanless NBA games may make for tight bonds

Basketball is back. For a country of sportsstarved fans looking for a semblance of normalcy, those three words are a tangible breath of fresh air.

That said, when the NBA does return, it’s going to look pretty different from when the league was initially suspended nearly three months ago.

The first change made, and arguably the biggest one, is the venue itself. For the duration of the nearly two-month season, all the games will be played in a quarantined location at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla. As of now, the tentative plan is to start the season in the middle of August, with play-in games before finishing the season in the middle of October.

The second-biggest change relates to the basketball experience for fans, in that there won’t be one.

When the first game tips off, it’ll be in front of a crowd of none, as the NBA has already announced all games will be played without fans.

With the exception of NASCAR, the NBA will be the first major American sports league to return without keisters in seats, something all sports leagues have contemplated doing upon their return and/or start of the season. The NHL, which will return in late July or early August, has already said the remainder of their season will take place in empty arenas, while it seems like a forgone conclusion the MLB season will happen without fans — if it ever happens, that is.

Although the NBA will be the first major American sport to return to empty arenas, the fanless experience has already begun to pop up across the globe, with the biggest example being the Bundesliga in Germany, which has played without fans for the past four weeks. In that time frame, the experience has already been tweaked.

In the first match day May 16, teams played with no background noise, an experience that resembled one of the countless mid-February indoor soccer games I played in high school. In the weeks since, however, teams have started piping crowd noise into the games, so much so Bayer Leverkusen even had their “crowd” boo when refs went to the VAR.

The NBA has apparently already begun to plan for the crowd noise, with one of the possible scenarios reportedly involving the NBA funneling in the crowd noise from NBA2K. No word on if David Aldridge’s courtside segments will be skippable as well.

This temporary “new normal” is weird for everybody. NBA players have already spoken out about how they don’t want a ton of changes to the overall game experience, citing a 2017 “sensory awareness” game played between the Knicks and Warriors in

Madison Square Garden that had no music, video or in-game entertainment for a half. The move was panned by players and coaches alike, with Draymond Green going as far as calling it “pathetic.”

Back when the NBA was still being played in the beginning of March (remember those days? Fun times) LeBron James said he wouldn’t play without fans in the crowd.

While he’s since walked back on those comments, chances are he’s not the only player who feels this way.

The NBA’s two-month stay at Mickey Mouse’s Clubhouse might not be all bad, however, especially for those looking to learn more about the subtle nuances of the NBA. During a normal NBA game, it can sometimes be difficult to learn the game just because of everything going on in and around the game. Sure, sometimes you’ll get a player who yells loud enough a courtside mic picks it up (or in Carmelo Anthony’s case, every time he grabs a rebound) or get the 20-second mic-up segment with a coach, but most of the time actual learning moments can be few and far between.

That might not be the case now. Although the Bundesliga has started funneling in crowd noises, it’s not the same level of intensity as actual fans produce and in turn creates a more muted background experience and allows for player’s voices to be picked up easier. While most of the back-and-forth between players has been in German, it’s been really cool to see and hear players discuss what went wrong after a missed opportunity.

This trend should carry over to the NBA, thanks in part of the smaller size of the court and echo effect from the arenas they’ll play in.

Who doesn’t want to hear James yell at a teammate after a missed assignment?

Who doesn’t want to hear Spurs coach Gregg Popovich yelling at an official after a bad call?

This plan obviously isn’t perfect. Even with the removal of fans, there’s still the chance a player becomes infected and risks spreading across other members of the bubble. Even if the Disney experiment works out and one team is left holding up the Larry O’Brien trophy, Adam Silver and the rest of the league’s leaders have to figure out how what next season is going to look like and when it’s going to happen. Not exactly an easy feat.

The NBA’s decision to return in a bubble is different, but we’re living in different times. While it’s not going to be the end of the season magic that we’re used to seeing, chances are it’ll be fun to watch, if for no other reason than to see all the changes.

Who knows, it just might teach us a thing or two about the game as well.

Palattella can be reached at HPalattella@ MorningJournal.com; @ hellapalattella on Twitter.