SILVER, NBA SEEKING MORE IDEAS ON HOW TO RESTART SUSPENDED SEASON BY JULY
The NBA Board of Governors met again without a consensus opinion emerging on how many teams should be back on the floor for the planned latejuly resumption of the pandemicinterrupted season, three people familiar with details of the call said on Friday.
The people, speaking on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press (AP) because no details of the call were publicly released, said Commissioner Adam Silver is still collecting information on multiple options ranging from 16 to 30 teams returning to action when the season begins again at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex near Orlando, Florida.
One person said the idea of bringing back 20 teams—possibly a few more, but not all 30—continues to resonate as the most likely scenario, as of now. Another plan discussed on Friday, the person said, would bring any team within six games of a playoff spot back for the resumption of the season, a scenario where based on the current standings 13 teams from the Western Conference and nine from the Eastern Conference would return.
Silver, who has been closely working with the National Basketball Players Association, has not revealed when or how a formal decision will ultimately be made. ESPN reported that the league is planning a Thursday vote to ratify whatever proposal Silver recommends.
Given the league’s known hope to be back on the court by the end of July, Silver’s decision would likely have to come very soon. Not all team practice facilities have reopened for voluntary workouts, meaning there could be some players who haven’t done any on-court work since the league suspended the season on March 11 in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The New York Knicks and Washington Wizards opened their facilities on Friday for the first time since the shutdown started, and the Boston Celtics said they will do the same on Monday. The only teams left at this point without a known reopening plan for their practice facilities are Detroit, San Antonio and Golden State.
Teams that are open can have a maximum of four players in a facility simultaneously at this point, with none of them allowed to work out together or even play oneonone. The belief has been that the league will ramp up what’s allowed within the voluntary workouts before setting a date for a training camp that would precede the resumption of the season.
Details of what the league’s testing plan would be are still somewhat unclear, though it’s almost certain that any program would involve all players and staff being checked very regularly and possibly even daily once the season resumes.
Another very big issue hounding the league involves money.
The NBA has the right, per the collective bargaining agreement, to exercise a clause and recoup roughly 1.08 percent of each player’s salary for every regularseason game that is canceled for unforeseen circumstances such as a pandemic. The National Basketball Players Association has not responded to requests for comment on how the financial implications of lost games would affect players.