NBA commissioner Adam Silver initially set the league’s hiatus at 30 days due to concerns over the coronavirus outbreak. Since then, a state of emergency has been declared in New York City and the state of New York, and the President of the United States has also declared a national emergency.
As the country continues to adjust, major live sporting events will not be there for fans. On Sunday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced it is advising that no events consisting of 50 people or more be held over the next eight weeks in the U.S.
This isn’t applicable to “schools, institutes of higher learning, or businesses,” however the sports business will be impacted by this recommendation.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the NBA is looking at playing games into August, which would impact the start of the 2020-21 NBA season.
CDC recommendation of no events of 50-plus people for next two months comes as a number of NBA owners and executives increasingly believe a best case scenario is a mid-to-late June return to play — with no fans. League's scouting for possible arena dates all the way thru August.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 15, 2020
Wojnarowski also indicated the remainder of the G League season could be called off.
Beyond obvious calender issues, the fact G League teams travel on commericial airlines and generally are money-drains for NBA teams make it even harder to move forward for rest of the season. No imminent announcement and G-League teams have been told to stay in town for now. https://t.co/nd1DdGeoV5
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 16, 2020
If the G League elected to not finish off the remainder of the 2019-20 season, the Brooklyn Nets’ G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets, would finish the season 19-23. Long Island had eight 2019-20 games left to play.