If you're an NBA fan, the last three months have been incredibly stressful. The league has yet to return to action although they plan on doing so as of July 30th. While there seem to be some players who are against the return, there are still plenty of stars who want to get back out on the court and compete for a championship. In order to do so, the players will need to be vigorously tested in order to prevent widespread cases of the Coronavirus.
For the last few weeks, teams have been told to hold off on testing but now, it seems like they have been given the green light to test as often as possible. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the league has told teams that they can test asymptomatic staff members and players which is huge news since many teams will be traveling to Florida later this month.
While this is a step in the right direction, the league has a completely different fight on their hands now. Many players don't want to return to action amid the protests against racial injustice. If the NBA wants those players to change their minds, they will have to come up with a solution that works for all sides, which is much easier said than done.
Either way, these next few weeks will be crucial for the league and its 30 teams.
NBA To Vote On 22-Team Return To Play Format
The NBA could be returning as soon as next month.
Over the past few months, the NBA has been diligently working on plans for a return to the basketball court. The Coronavirus put the season on hold but with cases starting to go down significantly, the league feels as though they can get the rest of the season in through a bubble city experiment. For now, it seems like they want to do this in Orlando as the players could use Disney's state of the art facility.
As for the format of the return to action, teams still have to vote on that. According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, on Thursday, NBA owners will be voting on a brand new proposal that only includes 22 teams. Essentially, the top 22 teams in the league would be coming back while the bottom eight would stay home. From there, we would see a play-in happen to determined who makes the playoffs.
"There's a lot of focus right now on a 22-team model of bringing teams back to Orlando in a play-in situation. ... Thursday will be the day of the vote and it's expected to overwhelmingly pass," Wojnarowski said.
Clearly, Wojnarowski believes this format will be passed. If so, it would be an unprecedented move for the NBA although it makes sense considering we are in unprecedented times.
Let us know in the comments below what you think of the format.
Adam Silver Sends Memo To NBA Teams Addressing Racial Injustice
Adam Silver wants NBA teams to look inward and reflect during these uncertain times.
Protests continue to rage on throughout the United States following the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. There have been numerous statements made by high profile athletes and now, NBA commissioner Adam Silver is making a statement of his own.
The vast majority of NBA players are black and Adam Silver understands that it is up to the league to support their players and become allies during this time. In an internal memo sent to each individual team, Silver urged staff to reflect on what's happening while also listening to those who have to face injustice on a daily basis.
“This moment also requires greater introspection from those of us, including me, who may never know the full pain and fear many of our colleagues and players experience every day,” Silver wrote. “We have to reach out, listen to each other and work together to be part of the solution. And as an organization, we need to do everything in our power to make a meaningful difference. Even in this sad and difficult time, I know we can.”
Silver acknowledges that many NBA players have had negative run-ins with police and the commissioner is hoping for real changes to be made. When the NBA eventually comes back, we will surely see the players come together in solidarity in light of what has happened.
NBA Rumored To Be Coming Back With Playoff-Only Format
NBA fans have been waiting for some good news from the league.
It’s been a rough few months for NBA fans as the Coronavirus has forced the league to completely shut down until further notice. The season was just starting to get good and it looked as though we were going to end up with some pretty magic playoff matchups. Of course, this never ended up coming to fruition and now the NBA is looking at scenarios for a comeback. For instance, the league has already began talks with Disney that would see teams play in one of their facilities.
According to Brian Windhorst of ESPN, there is a rumor floating around that when the league eventually returns, there will be no regular-season and that it will begin with a 16-team playoff. It has also been noted that the league might even consider doing 1-16 seeding to switch things up.
“I really think there’s a good chance that this is only gonna be a 16-team playoff,” Windhorst said. “If that is the case, it opens up the possibility for something that Adam Silver has long wanted, which is to seed from 1 through 16 in the postseason and go that route.”
There have been numerous scenarios floating around as of late so stay tuned for the latest information as this is a developing story.
NBA Could Lose Close To $1 Billion If Season Is Canceled
If the NBA ends up canceling the season, they could lose a whole lot of TV revenue.
Due to the Coronavirus, sports have been taken away from us and it remains to be seen when they will be coming back. At this rate, no one really knows whether or not the NBA will be able to restart the season although they have been hard at work trying to make sure they can find a solution that works for everyone. Realistically, fans would love to have the sport back so we can see how the playoffs go down. However, it just simply isn’t that easy.
In a report from Sam Amick of The Athletic, it was revealed that the financial implications of this crisis could be massive. In fact, if the NBA were to decide to shut down the season, they would lose out on $900 million in television revenue. This is a lot of money to be playing with right now and it’s clear that the stakes are high.
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What makes this situation even more complicated is the fact that if the NBA does have to put a stop to the season and miss out on revenue, they will also have to lower the salary cap. This will put teams in a huge hole especially with some players already under massive contracts.
Needless to say, this is a huge developing story so stay tuned for all of the latest updates.
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Jared Dudley Reveals When NBA Season Could Potentially End
The NBA seems extremely determined to make sure we get a conclusion to this season.
Sports fans have had it rough over the last few months thanks to the Coronavirus. Essentially, sporting events aren't allowed to happen because they are simply too dangerous. If even one player gets infected, many others can get sick and potentially even die. It's a sad reality that we are all trying to cope with, even though it hasn't been very easy.
Over the last few weeks, the NBA has been coming up with scenarios for a return to action and now, some of the players are divulging what they've heard. Yesterday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver spoke to players about potential solutions and according to Lakers player Jared Dudley, the league is prepared to continue the current season well into October.
This commitment to closing out the season should be great news for basketball fans around the world. Many have been worried about what could happen moving forward and there have been fears that the league will outright cancel the season. This would be a huge detriment to teams like the Clippers, Lakers, and Bucks who are at the top of their respective conferences standings.
This is an always-developing story so stay tuned for all of the latest updates.
Adam Silver Discusses The NBA’s Return With Players
Adam Silver discussed the logistics of an NBA return with the league's players, this week.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver spoke with player representatives from the National Basketball Players Association, which included executive director Michele Roberts, NBPA president Chris Paul and a number of other players, regarding the logistics of the league's return.
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"This could turn out to be the single greatest challenge of all our lives," Silver warned, noting that 40% of the league's revenue comes from game night earnings.
Silver pointed that that "The CBA was not built for extended pandemics," explaining that future salary caps and basketball-related income could be affected by the situation.
The commissioner went on to say that the league could resume playing from a single arena to limit air travel: "There's no point in adding risk for flying all of you city to city if there's not going to be fans," Silver said. "We think it would be safer to be in a single location, or two locations, to start."
Silver plans to return with a full-playoff run, but is considering play-in tournaments, which would give more teams a chance to compete who were robbed of a late-season playoff push.
"Until there's a vaccine, or some cocktail preventing people from dying from the virus, we are going to be dealing with this collectively," Silver told the players. "The ultimate issue is how much risk we're all comfortable taking."
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NBA’s Rumored Plan For Return To Action Revealed
The NBA has been thinking long and hard about how they could possibly get back on the court.
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, sports fans have been robbed of their favorite athletic events. Every single league in the world, except for those in South Korea, has been put on pause as the world tries to figure out how to deal with this new illness that has been ravaging the globe. One of the leagues that have been hit hardest by all of this is none other than the NBA which was just a few weeks away from the postseason when all of this happened.
Over the past month or so, the league has been hard at work as they look for a solution in regards to returning to action. There have been multiple suggestions, including a hub city that every single game would be played in. Now, according to The Ringer, many around the NBA believe the league will jump straight into the playoffs whenever action resumes.
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At the start, it seemed like the league could come back and play 5-7 more regular-season games before starting the playoffs but now, a scenario in which only 16 teams come back is more likely. It is also theorized that the first two rounds of the playoffs would be best-of-three as opposed to the usual best-of-seven.
Needless to say, we are living in unprecedented times and nothing is outside the realm of possibility.
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NBA Considers Delaying 2020-21 Season Until December: Report
The NBA is discussing delaying the 2020-21 season until as late as December.
Adam Silver and the NBA board of governors discussed the postponement of the 2020-21 season until December, on Friday.
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ESPN reports that the league prefers to wait until fans will be able to purchase tickets to as many games as possible before beginning the 2020-21 season.
"If you start in December, that doesn't mean the people are coming back in December, but maybe they're back by March," one member of the board of governors tells ESPN.
The future of the 2020-21 season relies heavily on if and when the current NBA season returns. Rumors regarding the all-together cancelation of the season provoked a response from Lakers' Star Lebron James on Twitter, this week: "Saw some reports about execs and agents wanting to cancel season??? That’s absolutely not true. Nobody I know saying anything like that. As soon as it’s safe we would like to finish our season. I’m ready and our team is ready. Nobody should be canceling anything."
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver spoke with reporters regarding the return of the season, last month: "I think there is still too much uncertainty at this point to say precisely how we move forward. I'll add that the underlying principle remains the health and well-being of NBA players and everyone involved. We begin with that as paramount."
Discussions regarding the 2019-20 and 2020-21 season will continue.
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NBA Pushes Back Two More Major Events On Its Schedule
The NBA continues to delay events due to the Coronavirus.
Back on March 11th, the NBA was forced to shut down as one of its players contracted the Coronavirus. Since then, multiple players have been diagnosed positive with COVID-19 and the NBA is looking for ways to come back without putting the players at risk. New information surrounding the virus continues to come out every single day and sports fans are worried that the entire season could be canceled. Regardless, the NBA seems eager to find a solution, and today, the league announced the postponement of two more events.
According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the NBA is now postponing the NBA Draft Lottery and the NBA Draft combine. Both of these events were set to take place this month in Chicago but now, it is impossible for it to go down.
Of course, in order for the lottery to happen, you need to know how the teams lineup in the standings. Since there are still games to be played, the current standings aren't an accurate representation of how things will end up. More importantly, a draft lottery or combine wouldn't be conducive to social distancing which is still very much needed.
It remains to be seen when these events will take place so stay tuned for updates as we will be sure to bring them to you.