NBA may return to normal in ‘21-22, virus permitting, according to Silver,
The NBA is expecting arenas to be filled again next season and a return to its normal calendar, Commissioner Adam Silver said Saturday, while cautioning again that every plan is contingent on continued progress in the ongoing fight against the coronavirus.
There are no plans for the league to travel overseas next season for exhibitions or regular-season games, Silver said, meaning recent preseason trips to foreign markets such as China, Japan or India won’t be repeated until 2022 at the earliest.
But otherwise, things may largely appear back tonormal—withtheNBA eyeing a return to the 82game schedule, starting in October and ending in June.
“I’m fairly optimistic, at this point, that we will be able to start on time,” Silver said from Atlanta, in his annual news conference that precedes the AllStar Game. “Roughly half our teams have fans in their arenas right now and, if vaccines continue on the pace they are and they continue to be as effective as they have been against the virus and its variants, we’re hopeful that we’ll have relatively full arenas next season as well.”
The league had 171 games canceled last season because of the pandemic — one of the reasons for revenue projections being missed by about $1.5 billion — and this season will be at least 150 games below the usual total, with more significant financial losses certain.
Golf
WESTWOOD HAS CAREERLOW >> Lee Westwood made a pair of 30-foot putts over the final three holes, one for eagle and the other a closing birdie, for a 7-under 65 that gave England’s ageless wonder a one-shot lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
KUPCHO EAGLES 18TH TO
CUT ERNST’S LPGA TOUR LEAD >> Jennifer Kupcho made a 12-foot eagle putt on the final hole to cut Austin Ernst’s lead to a stroke in the LPGA Tour’s Drive On Championship.
Skiing
SHIFFRIN CLAIMS 45TH
WORLD CUP SLALOM VICTORY >> Mikaela Shiffrin denied her Slovakian rival Petra Vlhova a home victory, winning the first World Cup slalom following the world championships.
Shiffrin trailed first-run leader Vlhova by 0.27 seconds on a hill where the Slovakian regularly trains. But the American had a blistering final run to win the race by 0.34 as the pair continued its dominance in the discipline.