During Friday’s call with NBA players, league commissioner Adam Silver addressed several topics regarding future plans to potentially resume the 2019/20 season. It remains unclear if or when that could happen but Silver discussed coronavirus testing, locations to play and the length of a possible training camp.
Silver also addressed other topics on the call, including other players that had been tested for coronavirus, potential travel alternatives for players should the season resume, and a potential start date for next season.
Check out some of those notes below:
- Silver mentioned that the NBA would not allow teams to use privates jets to shuttle players concerned with commercial travel to workouts, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported (Twitter link). One of the reasons for that decision is to manage a competitive advantage amongst teams, per Wojnarowski.
- While Jazz center Rudy Gobert was the first NBA player to test positive for coronavirus, he was not the first player to be tested for the disease, Silver told players, per Yahoo’s Chris Haynes (Twitter link). Silver added that before the crisis shuttered the season, the league was ahead of the curve in terms of testing.
- Per Shams Charania of The Athletic, a Christmas Day start to the 2020/21 season is “gaining momentum.” Obviously, if the current reason were to pick up, the ending could go well into August or September, when training camps typically begin. Therefore, a later beginning to the following season would be needed. Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer suggested on Friday that even a January start isn’t out of the question.