Adam Silver shares the 2020-21 season might start in another bubble

The 2020-21 NBA season may end up playing out in another bubble, according to league commissioner Adam Silver, but advances in testing tech could bring back in-person games.

The NBA bubble 2.0 might just have to happen, according to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.

The 2019-20 season will go down in history as the longest season in league history due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a four-month hiatus taken to plan and organize the Disney bubble to finish the season.

Speaking to the media at the league’s NBA Finals media availability session, Siver shared that the league may need to use a bubble format at least to start the 2020-21 NBA season, though he remained hopeful gains in testing technology might make it possible to have fans in home arenas once again.

“I’m hopeful that as we continue to study advancements in testing that, for example, rapid testing could make a big difference in terms of our ability to potentially get fans in buildings,” shared Silver.

As for the start of the next season?

“I’ve said previously that the earliest we would start at this point is Christmas,” related Silver.

“That’s been a traditional tentpole date for the league, but it may come and go. I’ve also said probably the greater likelihood is we’ll start in January. But remember, if we start in January, it means training camps have begun roughly three weeks earlier, and part of the consideration is that for these players, as I said at the open, in the longest season in the history of the NBA, many of them have continued training throughout the break, Finals will end in roughly mid-October, and they need a break physically and mentally.”

“There’s no question about that,” he added.

Whichever way the start of the next season plays out, it’s going to be an absolutely monumental undertaking for the league to pull off.

Thankfully for us, they’ve already showed us it can be done — and while safely delivering a compelling product as well.

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