The hiatus of NBA games induced by the current coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is likely to extend until mid-to-late June at the earliest, ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Sunday night.
That “best-case scenario” for a return to play — which would be over three months from March 11, when the 2019-20 season was originally suspended — would also involve no fans in arenas, per Wojnarowski.
The latest timetable comes after a new recommendation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which advised Sunday that for the next eight weeks, organizers should cancel or postpone in-person events that consist of 50 people or more.
That would seemingly rule out NBA games through mid-May, since even games played without fans would still easily exceed 50 people when factoring in players and coaches for both teams, officials, medical staff, broadcast crews, and other essential personnel.
CDC recommendation of no events of 50-plus people for next two months comes as a number of NBA owners and executives increasingly believe a best case scenario is a mid-to-late June return to play — with no fans. League's scouting for possible arena dates all the way thru August.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 15, 2020
By that point, given a layoff of at least two months, teams would likely need extensive time to practice together before resuming games.
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Per Wojnarowski, the NBA is currently examining the arena availabilities of its teams through the end of August, which would likely also push back the start of the upcoming 2020-21 season.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said last week that the stoppage would be for at least 30 days, but the ongoing increase in COVID-19 cases seems to be making the timetable longer by the day.
According to The New York Times, data as of Sunday night showed 3,453 cases of coronavirus in the United States, including 62 deaths.
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