What happens to the NBA now?
NOW that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics are officially postponed, the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has taken its biggest sports casualty. It would really be difficult to converge people from around the world with a pandemic going on.
How about basketball? For the NBA and the PBA, they only need to concentrate on their respective home countries (although there a lot of foreign players in the NBA, it is understood that they work in the United States).
Curtains for the 2019-2020 season
We have talked about the possibility of the NBA simply cancelling the season and the teams most affected by it. In that piece, we mentioned how the Golden State Warriors could get the first overall pick.
There will be a 2020 NBA Draft, but the question is when? We should reiterate that these are not actual games unlike the playoffs. We will miss all the hoopla, the cheers and the booing and we won’t have funny-looking suits to make fun of, but the draft, in its essence, can continue — even before or without the playoffs.
The WNBA will hold their draft as scheduled, and the NBA can even have its draft remotely. Without today’s technology, it would just be like another tele-conference — except there could be millions of people watching.
There would be a draft because players are declaring for it. They have no more chance to improve their stock, but they have to go for it.
Next season will open as if the 2019-2020 season didn’t happen. There could be awards, but we can’t declare champions based on regular season. Because the playoffs are the true test to know who’s really basketball’s best. On that note:
Shortened playoffs
More and more people directly and indirectly connected to the NBA have been declared positive for Covid-19 and that will only mean more people under investigation or monitoring. The chain goes on, and the good news is that Christian Wood was reportedly recovering. The athletes are likely to survive this game of probabilities, but sadly, seniors like Karl Anthony Town’s mother are vulnerable.
In any case, if the NBA decides to return, probably in July if the “curve” flattens, then the playoffs will likely be shortened.
It won’t be March Madness shortened with one-game eliminations, but the essence of the Best of Seven being the most accurate test on declaring the true king of hoops will have to be compromised. The idea is that it could be in Best of Three formats.
Now this would be very different from the seven- game stretch. If a team blinks, they’re forced in a survival match. The probability for upsets are strong. Imagine the Pelicans catching the Lakers on a bad shooting night for Game 1. The next game will be Anthony Davis’ worst nightmare. The New Orleans Pelicans will host their prodigal son in a do-or-die situation after he won the West with LeBron. The crowd will be insane and Zion plays his best game as a pro. Goodbye, LA — just like that.
Of course, every game matters more and that’s just more exciting. The TV ratings for Games 5 to 7 are much higher, but this time, it is ALWAYS Game 5 to 7.
In all likelihood, the suspension won’t end in thirty days, and we would not have four Best of Seven series anymore.
Bigger than basketball
The pandemic is now a question of survival, much bigger than basketball. There would be billions of dollars in losses if the season were cancelled, but there are frontliners in the health and medical field who are dealing with the possible loss of life. For them, quarantine is a privilege they gave up when they chose their vocation.
The basketball community is just a part of humanity in general, and at the end of the day, it’s just entertainment, it’s just a career. The pandemic gives new perspective on what really matters most, for basketball players and fans alike.
On a lighter note — now that even practice facilities are closed and more gyms are closing due to social distancing—which NBA players are likely to get out of shape?