During his interview with ESPN's Rachel Nichols, NBA commissioner Adam Silver admitted the current coronavirus pandemic could shift the NBA calendar permanently.
Silver did not write off the possibility of moving the NBA's start date to around Christmas since if this season does resume, it will go deep into the summer.
As transcribed by Kyle Neubeck of Philly Voice:
“Possibly. Those are things we’re always talking about, whether they’re executives at your company, ESPN, or at Warner Media, together with our regional sports networks,” Adam Silver said.
“I will say the conventional media calendar has changed so much certainly since I got into this business. Primetime means something very different than they used to, now that people essentially carry around televisions with them in their pockets. The summer is viewed differently than it was historically from a television standpoint. Regardless of whether we had been going through all this, it’s something the league office together with our teams has been spending a lot of time on.”
If the NBA resumes the 2019-20 season, it will surely be in July or August.
A new NBA schedule does make sense since the NBA and NFL wouldn't have to share the spotlight anymore. Plus, having basketball on in the summer would be pretty fascinating.
First things first, though: This NBA season needs to start back up again after the coronavirus dies down. Thus far, there are seven players in the NBA who have tested positive. They are Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, Christian Wood, Kevin Durant and three unknown Brooklyn Nets players.
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