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NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday told Bob Costas in an interview on CNN that the 2020-21 season will likely start at some point during the month of January.
Silver has previously said that the earliest start date for next season would be Christmas Day but that does not appear to be feasible at this point. The NBA has previously prioritized starting at a point in which fans would be allowed to attend games and Silver said that is still the plan.
My best guess is that [the next season] won’t start until 2021. We said, a week ago or so, that the earliest we would start is Christmas of this year but the more I’m learning, even listening to Dr. Fauci, I continue to believe that we’re going to be better off getting into January. The goal for us next season is to play a standard season – [an] 82-game season and playoffs. The goal would be to play games in home arenas in front of fans but there is still a lot that we need to learn.
Teams were informed this month that the 2020 NBA Draft will be pushed back from the tentative date of Oct. 16 to Nov. 18 while the start of free agency is expected to start shortly afterward. The delay will give teams two months to prepare.
The NBA is optimistic fans will be allowed to return to games by delaying the start of next season. The hope is that a vaccine for the coronavirus will be available or that stay-at-home restrictions will be lifted in cities around the league to allow for the safe return of fans in arenas.
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