In early March, NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced that the NBA will be suspended for the remainder of the regular season due to global COVID-19 outbreak and Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert was the first NBA player, in fact, athlete to contract the coronavirus.
Following the unfortunate news of Rudy Gobert, there were other reports from Bleacher Report and ESPN that stated other basketball players had also contracted the virus. Those NBA players were Kevin Durant, Donovan Mitchell, Marcus Smart, and others. Since then, the NBA made sure the ‘lockout’ was in effect.
On June 3, 2020, ESPN reported NBA’s board of governors intends to approve a league proposal on a 22-team format to restart the season in Orlando, Florida. The date to resume the season is set for July 30th.
Silver and the league’s advisory/finance committee have shared the broad details of a plan with teams to play at the Walt Disney World Resort. The plan includes 13 Western Conference teams and nine Eastern Conference teams, eight regular-season games, a possible play-in tournament for the eighth seed, and playoffs.
“Teams will begin training at team sites in July and advance to full training camps in Orlando later that month,” sources said.
For the past couple of months, Silver had been talking with public health officials and the commissioners of other sports leagues about the growing risk of the coronavirus.
Rest assured, public health personnel have been in close contact with Mr. Silver regarding the return of the NBA season and taking into consideration the growing concerns of a second wave of COVID-19 that may take place, according to reports from the CDC.
What are your thoughts? Do you think reprising the 2019-2020 NBA season was a smart move by the NBA commissioner? How are NBA players ensured with proper safety guidelines? Are they going to be issued by the CDC?
