Within an in-depth feature about how the Jazz dealt with the ramifications of Rudy Gobert‘s positive coronavirus test last month, Shams Charania, Sam Amick, and Tony Jones of The Athletic cite sources who say one preliminary plan the NBA has discussed for a resumed 2019/20 season would involve a two-week quarantine period in which teams could use facilities and players could work out individually.
That period would be followed by a two-week training camp and an abbreviated regular season and postseason, per Charania, Amick, and Jones. All games would take place in a single “bubble” city and without fans in attendance.
The league has also explored the possibility of a play-in tournament for the seventh and eighth seeds, sources tell The Athletic. However, both that idea and any sort of return timeline remain hypothetical at this point, since the NBA still has no sense of if or when resuming the season will be possible.
Here’s more on the coronavirus situation and the NBA’s hiatus:
- In a memo to players and agents this week, the NBPA said there’s no “drop-dead date” for any final determination on the 2019/20 season, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. There have been whispers that the NBA doesn’t want this year’s playoffs running any later than Labor Day.
- For those interested in how a postponed and/or canceled season will impact players financially, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report and Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst of ESPN have provided good breakdowns of the situation and what might come next. As we detailed on Thursday, players are still receiving their full pay checks for now, but will likely eventually have to forfeit – or even give back – a portion of their salaries.
- Even when the NBA and other sports leagues eventually reopen their events to fans, the coronavirus pandemic will have changed the way we attend games, writes Kelly Cohen of ESPN. As Cohen detailed in a separate ESPN article, a poll released this week by Seton Hall’s School of Business suggested that 72% of respondents – including 61% who self-identified as sports fans – aren’t planning to attend a sporting event until a COVID-19 vaccine has been introduced.
Sure, but two weeks more for a camp? A wasted moneymaking opportunity. At least use the time to equalize the RS games, “for the record” books. They don’t have to be perfectly played. Perfection is the enemy of good enough. Tall dorks that can’t dribble naturally should be passing to a guard anyway.
U talking about KLove?
Lamar Odam was on TV more recently.