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It was April 6, when NBA commissioner Adam Silver declared the league wouldn’t announce any decisions regarding the suspended season until at least May 1.
On May 1, Silver is no closer to knowing whether play will resume amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s hard to lead by consensus in a crisis,” one general manager told ESPN.com.
Though multiple executives remain optimistic the 2019-20 season will be completed — including Dallas owner Mark Cuban and Milwaukee owner Marc Lasry — the league is still unsure where the games would be held. Las Vegas remains a candidate to host the action — serving as a bubble city, benefitting from the NBA Summer League facilities, numerous hotels and restaurants — with the MGM Grand pitching its services to the NBA and WNBA across three adjacent hotels, according to ESPN.com. Like MLB, the NBA is also considering playing in multiple cities, such as Orlando, where momentum has increased to isolate and play at the private Walt Disney World Resort, which holds 12 basketball courts. Team practice facilities reportedly remain a possibility, too.
While any scenario would require personnel beyond players, coaches and referees — though certain to exclude fans — sources told ESPN that robotic cameras could be utilized and broadcasters could work from remote locations, limiting essential personnel to no more than 35 people at the site. However, players appear unwilling to quarantine without family members present.
“There are so many layers that would have to come into play for [a bubble] to even happen,” Chris Paul, president of the National Basketball Players Association, said last week. “We would have to know exactly what that would look like. There’s a lot of hypotheticals out there.”
Silver, who reportedly has told teams the league plans to crown a champion — whether or not all 30 teams would participate in a re-start remains unclear — released a memo earlier this week, pushing back the opening of team practice facilities until at least May 8. According to the ESPN report, players are yearning to return to their respective facilities, given the restrictions of working out at public gyms or even shooting on anything but personal hoops.
Even when the risk of virus appears to subside, testing remains an overwhelming obstacle. Given the shortage of tests nationwide, Silver is reportedly reluctant to use as many as 15,000 tests — according to ESPN — on millionaires, while hospitals remain packed and unemployment surges. Teams received a memo Thursday, insisting that players shouldn’t be tested unless they show symptoms.
“I do think it would be disturbing to many if there was massive testing that was available to a sports league at a time when people who are in high-risk situations were still having a difficult time getting access to testing,” said Dr. Vivek Murthy, the former surgeon general who has advised the NBA on the coronavirus, told ESPN.
The league needs to make plans for next season, too. If the 2019-20 season were to conclude late in the summer — or if it is outright cancelled — a potential scenario involves beginning the 2020-21 season in December and end it as late as August, potentially increasing the odds that fans could be permitted to attend games again, though social distancing could still be enforced in arenas.
