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Report: Chinese Basketball Association delays season until at least July

Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) chairman Yao Ming

BELGRADE, SERBIA - FEBRUARY 09: Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) chairman Yao Ming attends prior the FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2020 Group B match between Korea and China at Aleksandar Nikolic Hall on February 9, 2020 in Belgrade, Serbia. (Photo by Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty Images)

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There was already pessimism about the NBA finishing its season.

This should only add to it.

Jonathan Givony of ESPN:

The Chinese Basketball Association is facing another setback in its efforts to resume play in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sources told ESPN that league officials met overnight to discuss the fate of its season, which has been on hold since Jan. 24, and elected to postpone its calendar again, this time until at least July.


Unlike the Chinese Basketball Association, at least the NBA is sparing everyone a series of false starts. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he’d
make no decisions until at least May.

The coronavirus pandemic began in China. Though there are numerous other factors, that at least indicated China would be ahead of the United States on a standard recovery timeline (if one exists). If that’s the case, forget talk of the NBA returning in June. The CBA isn’t even returning that soon.

The NBA is and should be preparing plans for resuming play. The league must be ready.

But this is yet another reminder of how difficult it is to control the coronavirus.