Though all signs are pointing to the NBA is returning to playing basketball at some point in the future, Damian Lillard knows exactly what he’s going to be doing if the Trail Blazers have no shot at making the playoffs if and when the season starts back up again.
The Trail Blazers’ All-Star told Yahoo! Sports’ Chris Haynes that if the NBA brings every team in the league back to play a few regular season games to finish the year off — remember, the NBA reportedly wants to hit a 70 game threshold for every team to satisfy regional television contracts — then he’s making his statement now: he’s out.
“If we come back and they’re just like, ‘We’re adding a few games to finish the regular season,’ and they’re throwing us out there for meaningless games and we don’t have a true opportunity to get into the playoffs, I’m going to be with my team because I’m a part of the team. But I’m not going to be participating. I’m telling you that right now.”
As it stands, the Trail Blazers are the 9th seed in the West and three games behind the Grizzlies for a playoff spot, currently sporting a 29-37 record. They’d only have four games left to make up a three-game difference between them and the eighth seed. A couple of Grizzlies’ wins and the Blazers are finished.
Lillard is absolutely right to feel this way. It doesn’t make sense for him to put himself at risk by playing, basically, what would amount to a preseason game after being off for months at a time. That’s wholly unnecessary.
But Lillard’s point also does a great job of pointing out the complexities in the NBA’s return.
This league is a business. It runs on money first. And if these games need to be played for the league to cash in on some sort of milestone with their television deals, they’re going to want to do it.
And, if we’re being honest, most players will probably want to do it, too. Playing a certain amount of games might mean not having to take another pay cut.
For a player like Lillard on a super-max deal, that cut might not make that much of a difference. But for an end-of-the-bench guy clawing to keep his spot in the league? That’s huge, not to mention the potential opportunity to get something on tape at the end of the season.
There’s a lot to consider here. Whatever solution the NBA comes up with has to make sure pre-playoff games actually matter. Maybe something like the NHL seems to be moving toward adopting where 24 teams are eligible for postseason play.
If they can’t? Just forget about non-playoff teams altogether. Either way you cut it, you can’t have one of the league’s biggest stars in Damian Lillard just bowing out. That’s not a good look.