The NBA suspended its season earlier this week due to the coronavirus outbreak and the impact the disease has made on the entire world. The league is not exempt from this and they made the right decision after some of their players tested positive for COVID-19.
However, fans and experts have started to wonder when the league is going to resume its activities if they are to resume them. Initially, the suspension was of 30 days; after that, the league would study the next steps to make, but now we’ve learned it could take more than those 30 days before we see some basketball again.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, NBA owners believe the best scenario for the competition is to return to action in mid-to-late June. Moreover, Woj adds they will restart the season playing games without fans in attendance.
CDC recommendation of no events of 50-plus people for next two months comes as a number of NBA owners and executives increasingly believe a best case scenario is a mid-to-late June return to play — with no fans. League's scouting for possible arena dates all the way thru August.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 15, 2020
Further, Wojnarowski adds that NBA teams operating G League franchises are waiting for the rest of the G League season to be canceled shortly. The fact that those teams travel on commercial airlines makes things harder for NBA teams.
Reporting with @malika_andrews: NBA teams operating G League franchises expect rest of the minor-league season will soon be cancelled, sources tell ESPN. Regular season runs thru end of March, playoffs into April. Players have been informed they'll be paid thru end of schedule.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 15, 2020
Beyond obvious calender issues, the fact G League teams travel on commericial airlines and generally are money-drains for NBA teams make it even harder to move forward for rest of the season. No imminent announcement and G-League teams have been told to stay in town for now. https://t.co/nd1DdGeoV5
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 16, 2020
This situation gets more and more serious every day. The NBA has made the right steps so far and waiting until the middle of the year to restart the competition may well be the best decision for everybody. However, during that time of the year, a champion is normally being crowned; it remains to be seen how they will move from that point.
