Heading into the final week of September, the Eastern and Western Conference Finals are underway, with the Lakers and Heat leading their respective series against the Nuggets and Celtics, 2-1.
Yes, the NBA Playoffs are in full effect as the calendar prepares to turn to October, which puts the league in unchartered territory.
Apparently, according to Commissioner Adam Silver, the days of the league holding out hope of beginning the 2020-21 season before the New Year are long gone.
Initially, that was the reported goal for the NBA, with one early timeline having Game 7 (if necessary) of the NBA Finals scheduled for Oct. 12, the 2020 NBA Draft set for Oct. 16 and free agency set to begin on Oct. 18. The league was then hoping to begin the 2020-21 season somewhere within a month after the 2020 NBA Champion was crowned, but that timeline was obviously a bit too optimistic.
Since then, the league has formally pushed the 2020 NBA Draft to Nov. 18 and acknowledged that the 2020-21 season would have to be delayed.
On Tuesday, for the first time, we heard Silver acknowledge what had long been known — the league will not return to play until 2021.
The priority, it’s been said, is finding a way to safely get fans back into arenas next season. Delaying the beginning of the season until sometime after January improves the potential of COVID-19 — either by way of a vaccine becoming widely available or by a slowing of spread — being a bit more under control than it currently is.
According to CNN, the United States has just recently surpassed 200,000 COVID-19 deaths, with many experts fearing that a “second wave” of the virus may be ahead in the fall months.
The Commissioner made the admission during an appearance on CNN in which he was interviewed by Bob Costas. In pertinent part, Silver says that the 2020-21 season would begin in January as his “best guess,” but that the league is still planning for a full 82-game regular season.
Depending on when exactly the season begins, a late start would almost certainly impact the NBA’s ability to have its players compete in the Tokyo Olympics, which are scheduled to begin on July 21.
Silver acknowledged that could also be an issue.
With the 2019-20 season still being contested, it’s a bit early to become overly fixated with next season. However, with all but four teams already eliminated and many players facing free agency, these questions are already being asked.
Unfortunately, at this point, there aren’t many answers to go around, but Silver did at least provide one important fact on Tuesday. NBA basketball will be gone for several months once the 2019-20 champion is crowned.