NBA owners obviously want to finish this season. There’s too much money to be made just to give up.
But the league is on hiatus for at least 30 days due to the coronavirus. NBA commissioner Adam Silver talked about playing into July.
Really, those timelines might be overly optimistic. It depends how well we collectively socially isolate and how well our leaders deploy the medical experts. These are giant variables.
When does it become too late to resume play?
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But here's the crux of what my group is reporting....
NBA looking at each team trying to play a few (2-4?) regular season games to satisfy TV deals & also to honor other CBA clauses (each player having opp 4 similar # of games)….
The drop dead date to start the season would be August 1st. Possibility of shorter playoff series. Also possibility next season starts later.
— Five Reasons Sports 🏀🏈⚾️🏒⚽️ (@5ReasonsSports) March 13, 2020
But it's fluid and complicated.
Aug. 1 is so late. That’d almost have to included a shortened postseason (by number of rounds and/or games per round) AND a change to the 2020-21 season (by shortening the season and/or delaying its start).
But the playoffs are so lucrative. Especially this postseason, when the very best teams – Bucks (Giannis Antetokounmpo), Lakers (LeBron James and Anthony Davis) and Clippers (Kawhi Leonard and Paul George) – feature such big names. There will be every effort to make that happen.