The 2019-20 NBA season was put on hold after fears that Rudy Gobert put the entire NBA community at risk of catching COVID-19. He, and many other players, came back positive for the virus as optimism about a quick return quickly vanished.
But with the worst seemingly over now, the thought of the NBA season being resumed sometime in June or July is looking plausible.
According to Shaq, though, we shouldn’t be getting our hopes up at all. In a phone interview with Zach Braziller of the New York Post, O’Neal explained why the ’19-20 campaign should be canceled completely.
“We should scrap the season,” Shaquille O’Neal said “Continue to care about the safety of the players and the people, let the government figure out how they’re going to get rid of this thing forever. I hate hearing this statement, oh it’s going to come back, it’s going to come back.”
Even in the event of a return, the league has made it clear that things won’t return to “normal.” It’s likely that they will play the remainder of the season in a neutral-site location (like Las Vegas) with no fans in attendance.
Additionally, Silver proposed the idea of potentially playing out the season in October, which would essentially push back future seasons for a few more months.
Still, any time there is a gathering, there is a risk of infection. Perhaps the NBA shouldn’t consider a comeback until months after COVID-19 is “wiped out.”
Either way, the impending return of NBA basketball is both exciting and worrisome. It’ll be interesting to see how things play out in the end.
