Silver: It’s unlikely for NBA to accommodate Tokyo Games
NATIONAL Basketball Association (NBA) Commissioner Adam Silver warned players who are hoping to represent their country at the postponed Tokyo Olympic that it is “unlikely” the league will accommodate Games by pausing the league’s delayed 2021 season.
The 2021 NBA campaign is expected to clash with the Tokyo Olympics, pushed back to next year because of the coronavirus campaign, as Silver said the league will not begin before Christmas.
Silver again suggested NBA stars who want to play at the Games may be left disappointed, while admitting a stoppage in the season would be considered.
“I think it’s unlikely at the end of the day that if we start late that we would stop for the Olympics,” he said. “It’s not just a function of stopping just for the period that they would be competing over in Tokyo. They would require a training camp and they require rest afterwards.”
Silver said “everybody’s just going to have to make certain accommodations” in the 2021 season following an extraordinary period sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic, but conceded NBA players not competing in Tokyo would be detrimental to the quality of several national sides in the Olympic tournament.
Basketball Australia is among the organizations which expressed concern regarding the impact the NBA refusing to pause its season for the Olympics could have on its team.
American basketball head Coach Gregg Popovich also admitted his fears over the clash between the 2021 NBA Season and Tokyo, scheduled to run from July 23 to August 8.