The entire sports world is on hold right now as everybody does their part to stay home and fight the spread of the novel coronavirus. However, there is some hope that eventually sports can return this summer, albeit without fans, and try to get things moving again.
The NBA has been on hold since March 11 and it has been tough on everybody as the league was close to beginning their playoffs and move forward with the end of their season. So, they have been working on alternatives to resume the season, one of them being at Disney World Resorts in Orlando. It would allow the league to execute their “bubble” plan in keeping the players safe and have them go from the hotel to the arena and back.
San Antonio Spurs executive R.C. Buford said on Thursday that the league hs every intention on returning to play and finishing the 2019-20 season.
RC Buford says he just got off call with NBA team presidents.
"Every intention is to return to play."
— Mike Finger (@mikefinger) April 30, 2020
This comes after a report by CNBC saying that there were some league executives that were calling on the league to just cancel the season. Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James called that story out and said that it wasn’t true at all.
Saw some reports about execs and agents wanting to cancel season??? That’s absolutely not true. Nobody I know saying anything like that. As soon as it’s safe we would like to finish our season. I’m ready and our team is ready. Nobody should be canceling anything. 👑
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 30, 2020
Milwaukee Bucks co-managing partner Marc Lasry repeated the sentiment saying that the league will try their hardest to return at some point in the summer. This comes after the NBA announced that they would allow teams to re-open their training facilities beginning May 8 in markets where states are loosening their stay at home orders.
Lasry told CNBC:
“If the goal is you want to end up having a season, let’s get things open,” he said. “Let’s get people getting back in shape and then we’ll figure it out come July or August, what we can do in finishing the season and finishing the season without fans.”
It’s clear that the league is hellbent on returning and finishing the season, but that would depend on the safety of everybody involved. For the Philadelphia 76ers, they certainly would love to finish the season and get a crack at a title in the playoffs. After all, this team was built for the postseason and they would like to see them in a playoff setting. [lawrence-related id=30265,30256,30250]