When the NBA went into an indefinite hiatus on March 11 due to the global coronavirus pandemic, their next thought was immediately turned to health and safety. The league’s commissioner, Adam Silver, has been searching for ways to return to play safely and resume the 2019-20 season.
The league has continued to focus on a “bubble” idea and an idea of “NBA campus” where teams head to one centralized location and the players only go from the hotel to the arena and back. Of course, there will be testing and a lot of precautions going into this idea, but it appears that one location has gained some traction in an effort to resume and finish the season.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski hopped on “The Dan Patrick Show” Tuesday morning and broke it down like this:
I think the site is starting to narrow down to a one- or two-site scenario. Orlando has had a lot of traction. I think the question is going to be: Are they going to put all of the teams in one place or are they going to perhaps have teams moving among two sites based on an Eastern or Western Conference scenario?
The one thing Adam Silver has told the players and told the owners, what he doesn’t want are teams flying around. You’re not going to see what baseball is proposing which is teams moving around playing in home stadiums. The NBA is focused on one site, no fans and then they are going to deal with trying to get back into arenas again for the start of the next season.
Disney World’s sports complex has three gyms and it has plenty of hotel space for the players as well as their families. Silver did say that a decision is expected to be made on the season very soon so it will be very interesting to see what he and the rest of the governors will do with the season.
Whether they go straight to the playoffs and have all 16 teams there in one location or they have the Eastern Conference playoffs in Orlando and the Western Conference playoffs in Las Vegas, it will definitely be worth watching. As long as everything is done safely, it could be feasible to finish the season. [lawrence-related id=31290,31280][vertical-gallery id=31260]