Apparently, NBA fans aren’t the only ones who have grown weary of the speculation related to whether the NBA will complete its 2019-20 season.
It would appear that NBA players themselves are ready for an announcement to be made, as well.
Michele Roberts, the NBA players union’s executive director, has called upon Commissioner Adam Silver to announce the league’s intentions. For weeks, the long-held belief has been that the NBA would resume its season. As time has progressed, the reported plans had begun to include Walt Disney World and a timetable that would have play resume in July after teams reconvene in June for training sessions.
Within the last few days, the New York State governor’s office has permitted professional sports teams to reconvene for workouts, and considering the fact that New York has been the epicenter of the American coronavirus pandemic, it was widely viewed as yet another step in the right direction.
Now, in a report published by ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, Roberts is appealing to the league to give the players a definitive answer.
In team-by-team virtual calls with players this week, National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts said the “overwhelming” sentiment has been that “they really want to play” and resume the 2019-20 NBA season…
“It’s time. It’s time… It’s been two and a half months of, ‘What if?’ My players need some level of certainty. I think everybody does.”
Considering the relative public silence coming from the NBA players union, the timing of the report is interesting for no other reason than prior media reports indicated that the league would begin distributing guidance and making preparations for a return to play by June 1.
Although it should be pointed out that Roberts isn’t saying that the league should return, the combination of her stating that the players want to and that the commissioner needs to make a decision does put pressure on Silver to make some sort of declaration.
To this point, everything we’ve seen — including reports from some of the top insiders in the industry — point toward the league completing its season. What the resumption looks like and the format of the playoffs remains to be seen. But it does appear that things are trending toward the season being completed.
Without question, we should expect to hear more by June 1. Especially now.