NBA insider Sam Amick of The Athletic reported Thursday that “optimism abounds in the ownership, player, agent, and league office ranks” about resuming the 2019-20 NBA season in some form.
The season has been on hold since March 12 amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the United States and around the world.
Amick referenced the “bubble plan” of Las Vegas as a viable option, where players and perhaps their families could be quarantined in large hotels when not playing games. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a White House health advisor, indicated Wednesday that such a plan could be feasible.
Unlike other sports, where that idea might prove unpopular due to the length of time required to play a complete season, it seems the NBA could have a better chance due to the vast majority of the season having already been completed. Here’s what one player told Amick:
“Basketball guys are for it — they want to play,” one NBA player from a title-contending team wrote. “MLB (is) different (because) they have a whole season. We just have 1-2 months to finish up.”
Sources, at @TheAthletic: With a virtual NBA Board of Governors meeting set for Friday, there is rising optimism that this season might be saved. Somehow. Someway. https://t.co/XqHZKwu21b
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) April 16, 2020
While NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said publicly that the league won’t have a substantive update on the status of its current season until at least May 1, Amick reports that the NBA has a Board of Governors meeting set for Friday in which the options could be discussed.
The league’s apparent willingness to be flexible with its timetable would also give the season a better shot at being salvaged. Amick writes:
One team owner, for example, discussed a scenario in which players were given approximately a month to get back in shape (including their team training camp) starting in early June, the regular season began in July and the Finals were eventually played in … late October. Another owner agreed wholeheartedly that league-wide confidence was growing that this season would be saved, as did a few other folks who have a quality read of the room.
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It’s not yet clear whether a rebooted 2019-20 NBA season would go straight to the playoffs or have some regular-season games before then.
The Houston Rockets were 40-24 before the hiatus, which was tied with Oklahoma City for the No. 5 spot in the Western Conference. They were only one game back of Utah for No. 4 (with possession of the tiebreaker) and two back in the loss column of Denver for No. 3.
If the league went straight to the playoffs, the sixth-seeded Rockets would face the Nuggets in the first round of the West playoffs.
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Houston expected to have 18 regular-season games left to make up those deficits, though that appears unlikely at present due to the lost calendar dates. However, should games be played at a neutral site (Las Vegas) and without fans, many of the usual perks to a higher seed — such as home-court advantage — may not be applicable to this year’s playoffs.
At this point, with the NBA’s coronavirus hiatus over a month old, the Rockets would gladly take any opportunity to find out.
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