According to Adam Silver, the National Basketball Association (NBA)‘s commissioner, the league still hopes that it can continue to finish its season, including regular-season games.
Following the NBA’s board of governors discussion last Friday, Silver said that the league hasn’t considered canceling the rest of the season since it is looking to salvage some of its lost revenue because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Silver stressed that their revenue has dropped to zero, which has a huge financial impact on both the team business and the arena business.
He also hinted at changes to the league schedule, adding that all rules are off at that point, at the same time confirming the league would play significantly later than June if games resume.
That would mean canceling or pushing back remaining league events, which wouldn’t be so surprising with the coronavirus pandemic suspending mostly all sports events.
The biggest events that could change are the Summer League in Las Vegas and the NBA Draft Combine, originally scheduled for next month in Chicago. However, the NBA did not immediately return a request for comment on the decision on those events.
However, if NBA owners are seriously considering restart playing without sacrificing games, postponing the start of the 2020-2021 season is almost inevitable. And if that happens, would players ever agree to such a move and how does the NBA ever return to its current 82-game format?
The Christmas idea
According to people close to league discussions, the league’s competition committee, featuring some team general managers, has pitched the idea to start the regular season around Christmas.
The idea comes from various factors, including players and coaches complaining about too many matches in a week, early ratings being impacted, the shortage of practice time, and maybe one of the most significant issues plaguing the league even before the pandemic: load management and rest.