Report: League looks to Orlando

Disney World Resort front-runner as league looks to resume season

The NBA reportedly eyes set down south.

The league doesn’t appear to be heading to Las Vegas. Instead, Orlando’s Walt Disney World Resort has become the front-runner among cities the NBA is considering relocating to in an attempt to resume the season amid the coronavirus outbreak, according to The Athletic.

“It remains unclear when the games would begin, but multiple sources say the prospect of players fully training in mid-June and playing by mid-July has been the most popular and possible scenario discussed,” wrote Shams Charania and Sam Amick.

The league suspended play on March 11 after Rudy Gobert became the first of more than a dozen NBA players and personnel to test positive for the coronavirus, but players across the league have been united in wanting to find an avenue to resume the season.

The prevailing thought had been that the league would relocate its teams to a bubble city and include frequent testing as a measure of mitigating the virus’ spread.

As of now, it appears Orlando may be the destination.

“We are confident we’ll be hosting the NBA in some fashion,” has its

Disney World sources told Yahoo! Sports. “It may not be the entire league, but we believe the NBA will be here to at least finish part of their season. Still hurdles to cross, but we are preparing as if that is the case.”

The NBA was rocked like the rest of the world when the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the globe. As of May 20, there are more than 1.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases and nearly 100,000 coronavirus-related deaths in the country alone.

The NBA did its part to try and contain the spread of the virus throughout the league and its affiliated parties.

Shortly after suspending its season, the NBA also shut down team practice facilities indefinitely.

The league has since reopened those facilities for teams to use at-will for individual workouts.

So far, 17 teams have had players report to their facilities: the Thunder, Rockets, Cavaliers, Trail Blazers, Nuggets, Grizzlies, Heat, Magic, Bucks, Raptors, Hawks, Pacers, Jazz, Kings, Lakers, Clippers and Pelicans, according to the New York Times.

On May 13, commissioner Adam Silver had a conference call with the NBA’s Board of Governors where he told them the league would have a decision on resuming the season within the next two-to-four weeks, according to The Athletic.

That means in all likelihood, there won’t be basketball at least until well after July.