Nothing is etched in stone, but fresh intelligence from two of the NBA’s top insiders suggest that the league is positioning itself to resume its season at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.
A resumption of play could come by mid-July, according to The Athletic’s Sam Amick and Shams Charania.
The report came on Wednesday, the same day that ESPN’s Malika Andrews penned a report on the league’s collaborating with the Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic to conduct a study aimed to gauge the extent to which NBA players have coronavirus antibodies.
In other words, the NBA appears to continue to zealously pave its way to a resumption in play while trying to determine how to best keep its players safe.
For the past several weeks, there have been consistent reports about the league’s potential to create a “campus” environment in which it would summon its teams to complete a playoff tournament in lieu of a traditional postseason.
Along with Orlando, Las Vegas and Houston were both being considered a potential sites, but according to the report from The Athletic, Disney’s being a strategic partner of the league — Disney owns ESPN — and its private ownership of the facilities required to successfully pull off the playoff tournament seem to be ruling the day.
The NBA is in serious discussions with Disney about the property, which has gained clear momentum over cities such as Las Vegas, sources said. It remains unclear when the games would begin, but multiple sources say the prospect of players fully training in mid-June and playing by mid-July has been the most popular and possible scenario discussed.
Commissioner Adam Silver isn’t expected to make any formal announcement as to the league’s intentions, but the players seem to be motivated to return to play and, at the very least, the league appears to be seriously considering moving its postseason operations to Orlando.
For the NBA, Orlando/Disney World’s controllability as a playing site — with a private property having the necessary complexes, hotels and amenities — has been the most appealing of all the possibilities all along.
One important note from the report is that Orange County — the county in which Orlando sits — seems to have encouraging data related to the spread of COVID-19.
Silver, according to the report, envisions a scenario where players can relocate with their families but not necessarily have to quarantine themselves at the site for the duration of the playoffs.
So long as there is capable testing, the aspiration would be to permit at least some movement in and out of the campus.
For those who hope to see the crowning of a 2020 NBA Champion, Wednesday’s news is encouraging, to say the least. However, the data will likely make the final decision. If testing resources become scarce or if the virus were to begin spreading at an increased rate in Florida, all bets could be off.
For now, though, it appears that the league is focused on restarting its competitions at Walt Disney World, and for the first time, we have a reported potential timeframe.