NBPA director uncertain about NBA proposal
With the NBA's owners proposing to start next season around Christmas, should the players view it as an early holiday present? Or would they like to return the gift?
“I don' t know what I think yet ,” Michele Roberts, thee xe cut ive director of the National Basketball Players Association, told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday. “We are in the throes of discussing it and in the throes of evaluating what it means in terms of the revenue-related issues that have been raised. Frankly, we're also spending some time trying to get information on what this means in respect to player health.”
Some of that information varies by team.
The NBA Finals ended on Oct. 11, leaving the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat with just over two months to recover before the proposed start of next season. But eight teams have not played since the NBA suspended the 201920 season on March 11 because of the coronavirus outbreak. After the NBA resumed at thequ aranti ned campus near Orlando, six more teams ended their season by mid-August and another eight by late August.
“The only thing that brings all of those different experiences the players had together is to have sufficient notice on when camp can open,” Roberts said .“There are guys that haven't played since the suspension of play in March and they may have a different attitude or not. Frankly, I've spoken to players that did stop playing at or about that time, and they're banging down the doors to get back to the practice facility.”
As for Lakers and Heat players who ended their season just over two weeks ago?
“I don't know how much rest guys just left the bubble need before they restart,” Roberts said. “I also don't know how much runway everybody needs in order to get into camp. I need to have the players and those people that deal with the physiology of the professional athlete help me understand that.”
Why has the NBA proposed an earlier start date after Commissioner Adam Silver had said January was a more likely target?
The NBA lost $1.5 billion last season because of lost ticket and merchandise revenue as well as the cost of resuming the season at a quarantined site, a person familiar with the details told USA TODAY Sports. The person was granted anonymity because they were unauthorized to discuss league issues publicly.
The NBA also withheld 25% of player salaries beginning in mid-May in case the season was canceled.
The league wants to play next season in home arenas so it has flexibility either to hold games in empty venues or with limited fans, depending on how the pandemic plays out in the next few months. The league also wanted to set itself up to start the 2021-22 season in October, both to return to its traditional schedule and give players time off in the summer.
But the most pressing items Roberts wants to resolve include clarity on the league' s salary cap and when free agency will start.
What doesn't concern Roberts: her outlook on the NBA and the players union sorting out these issues.
“It would be silly to say we're not possibly going to make a deal,” Roberts said. “Then we would just say hello to the end of professional basketball. I'm not anywhere near there. I'm a grown person. They're grown people. You have to do something, you get it done. We've not yet had an inability to get things done.”