We’re still expecting the NBA to resume its 2019-20 season on July 31, but what exactly that looks like remains to be seen.
At this point, we know that the league’s owners want to return, and as a whole, the NBA Players Association has enough support within its ranks to continue discussing with the league before a final plan is approved and the terms of the league’s return are set in stone.
But according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, there are between 40 and 50 players who have expressed some uncertainty as to whether the terms of the Disney return would be worth the sacrifices they would need to make.
Some minor details — including the fact that players wouldn’t be able to host their families at Disney until the eighth week of competition and mandatory 10-day quarantines for any player that leaves the campus — have given the faction pause.
As a result, according to Wojnarowski, the NBA and NBPA are finalizing a plan that would allow any player who voluntarily decides to sit out the remainder of the season to do so while having a small portion of their earnings withheld.
As a faction of NBA players hold conference calls to discuss uncertainty about restarting the season in the Orlando, Florida, bubble, the NBA and National Basketball Players Association are agreeing on a plan that would allow players to stay home without consequences, sources told ESPN.
There were 40 to 50 players on and off a conference call in the past 24 hours discussing a number of concerns centered on the restart in Orlando.
Based on the report, one would have to wonder whether the league wouldn’t be better off simply taking a field of 16 teams and fast-forwarding directly to the playoffs. That would significantly reduce the number of bodies at Disney while also shrinking the amount of time needed to complete the season. That has become an issue as the NBA has begun to express doubts about whether it’ll be able to play 82 games next season and acknowledging that more back-to-back games and stretches of four games in five nights might have to be included.
Currently, however, there is no indication that the league is backing off of its plan, but one has to wonder whether the NBA and NBPA might be forced to reevaluate their position, especially as Florida’s number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 have seen an uptick over recent days.
As members of some organizations who have been eliminated from the playoffs didn’t see the point in returning this season, some players on playoff teams not expected to seriously contend for the championship may have similar feelings, given the circumstances.
It’s hard to blame them.