Between the China controversy, the death of a basketball icon, and the Coronavirus epidemic, this NBA season is, perhaps, the most bizarre we’ve ever seen. The latter, though, may be the most devastating of them all.
Thousands of people around the world are beginning to feel the impact of a now global and expanding virus and the NBA is being forced to consider the effects as things continue to worsen in the United States. According to sources, the likelihood that games start being played with “essential personnel only” continues to increase. The Warriors have already begun such policies, becoming the first team to host an empty arena.
According to Zach Lowe and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Adam Silver and league executives are bracing for the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The NBA is exploring ways to allow them to continue playing and televising games during the coronavirus crisis, even with it increasingly likely that the league will do so in empty arenas, sources said. The NBA is bracing for losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars across the sport, sources said.
Of course, the league is considering a number of alternatives to salvage the season.
As reported on Wednesday, league sources told ESPN that one scenario introduced into the league’s conversation about enacting temporary measures in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak involves moving some games to NBA cities that have yet to suffer outbreaks.
If the virus clusters and forces a team out of its city and arena for a period of time, there has been discussion about moving games to the away opponent’s arena if that city hasn’t suffered an outbreak — or even moving games to neutral cities and sites, league sources told ESPN.
With numbers still on the rise, it seems the worst is yet to come for the world and especially for the United States in general.
After a season laced with so many obstacles, this latest epidemic is poised to deliver another blow to the NBA. The consequences will be devastating.
