Report: Pacers and Rockets were also against playing without fans

The Knicks were singled out as the NBA team that – as of yesterday – wanted to continue playing games with fans present amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The league was headed toward playing without fans in attendance. Then, the NBA suspended its season after Rudy Gobert tested positive for coronavirus.

But continuing to play in front of fans? That irresponsible idea was pinned solely on the Knicks.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:

ESPN Sources: Besides the Knicks, two other teams on the Board of Governors call Wednesday expressed reservations on eliminating fans from games without first receiving a formal governmental mandate to do so: Houston and Indiana. https://t.co/ikwsRQ7Agq

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 12, 2020

The Rockets did favor a 3-4 weeks pause that would allow the NBA to play into the summer, sources said. They were less enthusiastic about the idea of playing games in the short-term without fans. https://t.co/RY3SKtfTM3

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 12, 2020

Wojnarowski’s follow-up tweet reads like he got a message after the first tweet. I’m usually reluctant to trust that spin from Houston.

But Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta was already on record with this stance:

Fertitta on CNBC last Friday:

I don’t think you ever want to play games in front of no audiences. If it ever got so bad – and this is just my opinion – I would hope that we would just suspend for a week or two weeks or whatever. But you don’t want to play games with no fans. That’s never going to work.

Maybe the Pacers have a similar explanation. Maybe even the Knicks do, too. Or perhaps there were other teams that haven’t come up for public shaming but also wanted to continue playing games in front of fans.

Remain skeptical of this stuff. The coronavirus hasn’t stopped business as usual: NBA insiders – under the cloak of anonymity, accurately or not – slinging mud at each other.