The NBA is once again warming up to the idea of resuming the 2019-20 season, with just too much money at stake to give up on it. Recent talk of the salary cap expecting to take a decline in the wake of a broken partnership with China and the outbreak of the coronavirus has lit a fire in the behinds of many players, executives, and owners hoping to salvage something from this otherwise odd-looking NBA season.

Yet NBA Commissioner Adam Silver sent a clear warning shot to everybody effusively hoping to play: if a positive test would “shut us down, we probably shouldn't go down this path.”

The Board of Governors should heed that advice loud and clear, as players like NBPA president Chris Paul, LeBron James, and many other big names have lobbied to play out the season one way or another.

Many have criticized Silver for dragging out this decision for more than two months since the NBA season first came to a halt on March 11, but those who do have failed to acknowledge the entire world is playing a waiting game with no answer as to when or how it might end.

Jazz, NBA,. Adam Silver, Rudy Gobert

Basketball is amid a unique circumstance, considering the 2019-20 season was roughly 80% done by the time Rudy Gobert's coronavirus test came back positive. Silver's quick reaction was in many ways heroic, as his decision to suspend the season might have saved a lot more cases of contagion.

The league office is at a standstill, rendered helpless as to how to act as teams have to conform to their respective state edicts.

Moving the season to a neutral site like Las Vegas or Orlando might be the best option, but it can all come careening down if either Nevada or Florida issues a state mandate to shut down once again. That would effectively shut down the NBA season as well and leave players, executives, and fans in limbo once again.

Players want to play; there is no surprise in that. But this recent campaign that pushes so aggressively for a return has to have its consequences. Silver is taking one giant risk by bringing the NBA season back, and if he's pushed by the players and owners to do so, it's only fair they also share the blame if something goes haywire.

As Silver outlined in his prompt to the Board of Governors on Tuesday, be ready to have one or more cases of infection, as across-the-board testing should ultimately uncover a few.

NBA-Adam-Silver

The NBA will have to pony up plenty of money to restart the season in hopes to salvage more, but if the league becomes a breeding ground for COVID-19, players and owners will have to take some responsibility for their urges.

Simply put, the situation is too uncertain, too fluid, and too risky to allow for perfection. If the NBA is to open the doors again and hold basketball games in any capacity — players, owners, and Silver himself should be willing to share the blame equally, whenever the criticism comes their way.

Positive tests might render key players out for two weeks due to the recommended period of individual isolation. This could  be a back-of-the-bench player, a coach of age like Mike D'Antoni, or a player of massive importance like Kawhi Leonard or LeBron James.

The novel coronavirus doesn't discriminate; it is an equal-opportunity abuser. Should the results of this NBA season come with an asterisk if a star player, a key role player, or a coach becomes ill, the parties involved should be willing to absorb the barbs that will ensue as much as Silver, who has stuck his neck out for the league for the past two months.