Tuesday saw some significant progress in the NBA’s planning for a possible restart to the season. Leadership on both sides of the NBA and NBPA held meetings to discuss the path back to basketball, as Chris Paul, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, and other NBA stars spoke on a call while Adam Silver spoke with the league’s board of governors.
While the first call resulted in the league’s best players reportedly coming to an agreement that they all would like to restart the season when possible, the latter call was the more important one in terms of actually putting plans into action. Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, among the discussions were locations they could play, what a bubble league may look like, testing, what other pro leagues domestically and internationally are doing, and more.
Sources: In discussion with BOG/owners, Silver used the term “campus environment” when referencing what’s been called a bubble. Call included significant detail on how other pro sports/leagues — here and abroad — are working toward their returns. https://t.co/eVIiZlVxeN
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 13, 2020
There are a lot of moving parts that need to come together for the NBA to get back on the court this summer, with the most notable issue still being testing, from availability to how rapid tests would be and what the league would do if there’s a positive test. The last point reportedly saw discussion turn to teams and players needing to be “comfortable” with the idea of continuing the season after a positive test from a player.
As for when a decision may come down, The Athletic’s Shams Charania brings word that Silver told owners he hopes to have a decision on coming back to play this season in the next 2 to 4 weeks.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver told Board of Governors today that he is aiming for a 2-to-4 week timetable on the decision about whether to resume season, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 13, 2020
That would mean we should know if the NBA will return — or at least, go forward with serious plans to return — by early June. The hurdles to doing so remain enormous, even if players and ownership both are on the same page in terms of wanting to return. Ensuring they can get the necessary testing — and do so without taking the PR hit of taking them from places that are struggling to test those showing symptoms — is the first hurdle, but that’s just one. While it’s one thing to say they’ll have to be “comfortable” with a player testing positive and going into self-quarantine away from everyone else, it’s another for that to be what actually happens should a superstar test positive in the midst of the playoffs and have to miss, effectively, an entire series. Beyond that, we know that the virus can easily spread among teammates and opponents, and while they might be willing to press on from one case, what is the plan if it’s clear the virus is spreading rapidly within their bubble.
All of this must be taken into account, but Tuesday was significant in showing progress towards that plan. The unfortunate thing — and the thing everyone is currently dealing with — is that timetables and plans are nice, but everything is dictated by the virus and, to this point, that has derailed even the best laid plans.