One part of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver's Friday league-wide conference call with players resulted in revealing the league may not decide on whether to resume the 2019-20 season until as far as June—another month of waiting and wondering for everybody.
According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Silver told the NBA players resuming the season, suspended since mid-May due to the COVID-19 pandemic, would most safely resume in one or two locations.
Sources: On call with players today, Adam Silver told NBPA membership: 1) "It would be safer to be in a single location, or two locations, to start." 2) That the NBA doesn't have to make a decision on re-starting in season in May, nor does it have to decide right away in June.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 8, 2020
Chaining themselves to one or two cities could prevent traveling and the inevitable contact with other individuals, including asymptomatic ones carrying the coronavirus. COVID-19 has claimed the lives of over 70,000 in the U.S. with millions more afflicted by the virus both knowingly and unknowingly. The NBA also revealed on Friday that Las Vegas, Nevada, and Orlando, Florida, are two proposed locations to finish the season, with the Western and Eastern Conferences playing in those locations, respectively.
The NBA already postponed the Draft Lottery drawing and Combine for draft prospects, both originally scheduled in May, as the June “decision” still looms as an uncertainty. This week also saw several Cleveland Cavaliers players, including All-Star power forward Kevin Love, return to the reopened practice facility as businesses and spaces reopen in a state-by-state basis; for Ohio, that meant the Cavs were allowed to attend voluntary practice with certain measures like checking body temperatures and assigning basketballs to one person each.
Should the NBA decide to resume its hiatus season by June, they would also have to answer questions like whether to skip to the postseason or not and how long the league gives players to get in game-ready shape to resume playing.
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