Knicks, Celtics Reopening Practice Facilities
Two more teams are reopening their practice facilities, as the NBA moves toward having all 30 teams back in their buildings for voluntary individual workouts.
The Knicks announced (via Twitter) that they reopened the MSG Training Center today, while the Celtics said in a press release that they’ll do the same with the Auerbach Center on Monday, June 1. Both teams noted in their statements that they’ll be adhering to the safety guidelines established by the NBA and local health officials.
Reopening practice facilities has been the first step for the NBA and its teams as it works toward potentially resuming the 2019/20 season this summer. A total of 24 teams have now reopened their respective buildings to players, with the Celtics set to do so on Monday and the Bulls planning to follow suit on Wednesday.
That leaves just four teams that have yet to get back into their facilities. Two of those clubs – the Warriors and Pistons – are far removed from the playoff hunt, while the other two – the Spurs and Wizards – could still have a path to the postseason under certain play-in scenarios.
NBA Targeting July 31 For Return To Play
NBA commissioner Adam Silver and the league office informed the Board of Governors on today’s conference call that July 31 is the tentative target date for a return to play, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
That target date doesn’t tell us exactly when the NBA would want its season to end, since we don’t know how many games will be played once the season resumes. However, a typical postseason requires about two months from start to finish, so it appears as if the league is comfortably playing through August and September.
According to Charania (via Twitter), the NBA discussed four potential return scenarios on today’s call with team owners. Those scenarios were as follows:
- Bringing back 16 teams and advancing directly to the postseason.
- Bringing back 20 teams and using a play-in pool that would involve a group stage.
- Note: The Trail Blazers, Pelicans, Kings, and Spurs would likely be involved in this scenario in addition to the playoff teams.
- Bringing back 22 teams and playing regular season games to determine seeding. A play-in tournament would then be used to determine the final playoff teams.
- Note: The Suns and Wizards would be added to this scenario, as ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne tweets.
- Bringing back 30 teams, completing a 72-game regular season, then conducting a play-in tournament for the final playoff teams.
Within each of those scenarios, the NBA could tweak the details and go in a few different directions. For instance, even something a solution as simple as advancing to the postseason with the current top-eight seeds in each conference could involve reseeding those teams from one through 16, regardless of conference.
It seems like a safe bet, however, that the format the league eventually lands on won’t stray too far from one of those four options. Marc Berman of The New York Post tweets that returning with 24 teams is believed to still be on the table as well, so that may be a variation of the third option listed above.
According to Charania (via Twitter), that fourth and final option – with all 30 teams returning to play – looks like the least likely outcome. Charania reports that Hornets owner Michael Jordan advocated on today’s call for player safety and not asking players to return for meaningless games — that viewpoint has been voiced by at least one superstar player as well. So unless all 30 teams get a chance to make the playoffs, which seems like a long shot, the NBA is unlikely to bring them all back.
The NBA and NBPA are expected to further deliberate in the coming days, with Silver potentially bringing a proposal back to the Board of Governors for a vote next week.
Notes On NBA’s Potential Return To Play
The two-hour conference call this afternoon that included the league’s Board of Governors and commissioner Adam Silver featured plenty of discussion and debate about what form the resumption of the NBA season should take, including the financial implications of various proposals, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Unsurprisingly, there was ultimately no consensus among team owners, per Woj.
As Wojnarowski details, the league and the NBPA will continue to talk about potential scenarios for the NBA’s return. However, there’s an expectation that within the next week or so, Silver and the NBA will ask teams to vote on a specific proposal.
According to Woj, most teams are pushing ideas that reflect their own interests, but there’s a sense they’d get behind Silver – whether enthusiastically or reluctantly – if he and the NBPA agree on a plan and want to move forward with it (Twitter links).
Here’s more on the potential resumption of the 2019/20 season:
- After Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer provided some of the results of the GM survey conducted by the NBA last week, Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links) reports a few more. According to Charania, most GMs don’t want the season to extend beyond October 1, and 60% voted in favor of a 72-game regular season. Charania adds that the non-playoff teams were “split” on resuming the season.
- Tim Bontemps of ESPN also has some details on those GM survey results, noting that general managers support the idea of adding more inactive spots to team rosters and making two-way players available for the postseason.
- In a lengthy column, David Aldridge of The Athletic explores several aspects of a potential NBA return, including how COVID-19 testing would work in Orlando, what player agents are hearing from their clients, and why there’s confidence that Walt Disney World is the best choice to host the league. “I’m fairly certain that Disney is going to work,” one source told Aldridge. “Vegas had some of the logistical things we needed but didn’t have the environment that could enhance our health protocols. Vegas scared me to death. Florida worried me a little bit because of the state opening up so early, but having a venue that can basically be closed off, I do think we can check off the venue issue off our list. I think we’ve got that down.”
- Mark Medina of USA Today digs into the some of the logistics on how, specifically, it will work if the NBA resumes its seasons at Walt Disney World in Orlando. Medina shares some details – and some speculation – on where teams would play, how they’d practice, and where they’d stay while in the Disney “bubble.”
Bulls To Reopen Practice Facility On June 3
MAY 29: The Bulls won’t reopen their facility today, but have received the go-ahead to open their doors for individual workouts beginning next Wednesday, June 3, tweets K.C. Johnson. That’s the date that the city’s “phase three” plan begins for reopening following coronavirus closures.
According to Johnson (Twitter link), new Bulls execs Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley, who have been working remotely since being hired, are scheduled to be in Chicago soon.
MAY 27: The Mavericks will reopen their practice facility on Thursday, becoming the 23rd team to do so, and the Bulls appears likely to follow suit on Friday, becoming the 24th, as K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago reports (Twitter link).
The franchise received clearance from the Governor’s office and is in discussions with the city on how to safely open the facility. Under league rules, the workouts are voluntary. Only four players at a time are permitted in the facility and no group activities such as practices or scrimmages are allowed.
Johnson adds that not many of the Bulls’ players are currently in Chicago. There’s also no guarantee that the Bulls will be included in the NBA’s return. The league is contemplating many scenarios and there’s some skepticism from teams that all franchises won’t be included.
The Celtics, Knicks, Pistons, Warriors, Spurs, and Wizards are the only remaining franchises with closed facilities.
O’Connor’s Latest: GM Survey, Roster Expansion, Lottery, More
On Thursday, the NBA held a call with its 30 teams’ heads of basketball operations – general managers and those with similar titles – to discuss a potential return to play, as well as the results of the survey the league sent those GMs earlier this month.
According to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, half of the league’s GMs voted to proceed directly to the playoffs without playing any more regular season games. And just over half of the league’s GMs were in favor or reseeding playoff teams one through 16, regardless of conference. Meanwhile, support for a play-in pool similar to the World Cup’s group stage was lukewarm — approximately 75% of GMs voted for a play-in tournament, with just 25% or so supporting the play-in pool concept.
As O’Connor notes, the call was about gathering information rather than committing to a specific plan. The NBA still has a Board of Governors call scheduled to happen today, and even then, talks are expected to continue through the weekend without a formal vote on a return to play quite yet, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski confirms (via Twitter).
As for which plans received more support in the GM survey, the NBA is aware that the results, in many cases, reflect a team’s particular interests — for instance, the Lakers and Bucks supported a play-in tournament over a play-in pool, since the latter would result in a more challenging path to the second round.
“Adam isn’t taking the results seriously,” one team executive told O’Connor earlier in the week. “Every team is obviously gonna vote for what’s best for them.”
Here’s more from O’Connor:
- General managers “unanimously” favor the idea of expanding rosters for the postseason, sources tell The Ringer.
- According to O’Connor, the NBA’s preference is for no group workouts to take place until teams arrive in Orlando, since the league will be in a better position to implement its own safety measures and COVID-19 testing procedures there. However, teams are pushing back against that idea, arguing that their players need more of a ramp-up period, and multiple executives expect the NBA to relent, O’Connor writes.
- Teams on Thursday’s call had questions about how the draft lottery would work in the event of a play-in tournament or other tweaks to the usual playoff format. There are no clear answers yet on that issue, per The Ringer.
- According to O’Connor, every source he has spoken to this week believes that the NBA would prefer to have at least some of its teams stay home. The league is prioritizing health and safety – ie. minimizing the amount of people in its “bubble” – over fulfilling certain regional television contracts.
Bucks Co-Owner: Vote On NBA Return May Happen “Early Next Week”
A frequent guest on CNBC, Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry appeared on the network’s ‘Halftime’ show on Thursday and was asked about the next steps for the NBA’s potential return, as Jabari Young of CNBC details. According to Lasry, the expectation is that commissioner Adam Silver will present the NBA’s Board of Governors with potential formats for a return to play on Friday’s conference call, with a decision potentially coming next week.
[RELATED: Board of Governors meeting unlikely to yield final plan]
“I think that will happen tomorrow is that Adam’s going to recommend to the board the different options that we’re going to have about reopening,” Lasry said. “And I think the board will think about it over the weekend and then hopefully have another meeting early next week to vote on what we all feel will be the reopening of the NBA.”
As Lasry acknowledged during the interview, the NBA seems to be zeroing in on Walt Disney World in Florida as the lone host for the resumption of the season. However, there’s still plenty of uncertainty about what form the league’s return will take.
“I think at the end of the day, we’ll be in Orlando at Disney,” Lasry said. “The question is going to be: Will we have all 30 teams there? Will we have 24? Whatever the number will end up being. But hopefully, by the middle of July, we start playing again.”
Of course, even if the NBA’s Board of Governors votes in favor of a certain format, that plan would also need to be approved by the National Basketball Players Association before the league can move forward. All sides have been working closely together throughout the coronavirus pandemic, so while some negotiations may be required, they’re unlikely to get as contentious as the talks between Major League Baseball teams and players.
International Notes: LNB, Yabusele, Calathes, Blatt
One side effect of the NBA’s changing schedule will be the impact it has on international players interested in coming stateside, as Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype writes. If the NBA’s free agency period doesn’t begin until September or October, it will no longer line up with the offseason for international leagues, reducing the likelihood that players in Europe will be able to exercise NBA outs in their contracts.
“Every year, there are a number of overseas players who exercise their buyout clause to sign with an NBA team, and the deadline for those buyout clauses is normally between July 10 and July 20,” one international agent told Kennedy. “That way, it’s during the free-agency period and the player has the option of participating in Summer League beforehand to see if an NBA team is going to offer him a guaranteed deal or a two-way contract.”
Typically, the offseasons for the NBA and most top international leagues overlap, making it simpler for players to make the leap one way or the other. If that’s not the case for 2020, it’ll be a minor problem in the coming months. However, if this season’s unusual circumstances prompt the NBA to shift its calendar on a more permanent basis, it’ll become a more significant long-term issue that will require some sort of solution.
Here are a few more notes from around the basketball world:
- The LNB, France’s top basketball league, has canceled the rest of its 2019/20 season without crowing a champion due to COVID-19, as Dario Skerletic of Sportando relays. The league announced the news in a press release.
- French team ASVEL Basket is prioritizing a contract extension for former NBA first-rounder and Celtics forward Guerschon Yabusele, and both sides are optimistic about reaching a new deal, according to a report from BeBasket (hat tip to Sportando).
- Former NBA guard Nick Calathes, who played in 129 games with Memphis from 2013-15, has reportedly agreed to terms on a three-year deal with Barcelona, per Sport24.gr (hat tip to Sportando). Calathes had spent the last several seasons with Panathinaikos in Greece, earning a spot on the All-EuroLeague First Team in 2018 and 2019.
- Czech basketball club BC Brno has a new co-owner, and former NBA head coach David Blatt is involved, per Valia Pilianidi of TalkBasket. As Pilianidi details – and as the club announced in a press release – Brno’s new co-owners are the Israeli company True Player Group, which is half-owned by Blatt’s family.
2020 Hall Of Fame Ceremony To Be Delayed Until 2021
The 2020 Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony won’t take place this August, as initially planned. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the ceremony will tentatively be pushed back to the spring of 2021, according to the chairman of the Hall’s board of governors, Jerry Colangelo (story via Jackie MacMullan of ESPN).
This year’s star-studded class of Hall of Fame inductees is headed by Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and the late Kobe Bryant. Former Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich, former college coach Eddie Sutton, longtime WNBA star Tamika Catchings, former FIBA and IOC executive Patrick Baumann, and veteran women’s basketball coaches Kim Mulkey and Barbara Stevens are also part of the 2020 class.
The induction ceremony for the nine new members of the Hall had been scheduled for the weekend of August 28-30, with proposed alternate dates of October 10-12. However, Colangelo tells MacMullan that those dates are “just not feasible” due to COVID-19’s impact on large gatherings.
“We’re definitely canceling,” Colangelo said to ESPN. “It’s going to have to be the first quarter of next year. We’ll meet in a couple of weeks and look at the options of how and when and where.”
Despite the delay, Colangelo made it clear that the Basketball Hall of Fame doesn’t intend to eventually merge the 2020 class with its 2021 class, which figures to be announced next spring — the plan is still to hold two separate ceremonies.
“We won’t be combining them,” Colangelo said. “The Class of 2020 is a very special class and deserves its own celebration.”
Mavericks To Reopen Practice Facility On Thursday
The Mavericks will become the next team to open their practice facility, according to Callie Caplan of The Dallas Morning News. Coach Rick Carlisle confirmed that the facility will be reopened Thursday for limited player workouts.
Carlisle provided details about the return during a Zoom meeting today with players, coaches and the team internist. Under league rules, only four players at a time are permitted in the facility and no group activities such as practices or scrimmages are allowed.
“One of the things we went over in the Zoom call today were the procedures for going in and out of the facility and procedures from going workout to workout, and there’s a lot of detail involved,” Carlisle said. “(Owner) Mark Cuban has been very vigilant on the fact that we cannot be in a rush to reopen unless the timing is right.
“So we probably are (one of the last facilities) to reopen, but I’m actually proud of that fact because I think it’s been the right decision, and I also know our players have been doing a great job on their own of staying in shape and taking care of themselves, so we have a high level of trust with our players.”
The NBA allowed players to begin working out at their team facilities on May 8, but the Mavericks have remained cautious, even though Texas Gov. Greg Abbott lifted a stay-at-home order on May 1. Dallas’ decision leaves the Celtics, Knicks, Bulls, Pistons, Wizards, Spurs and Warriors as the only teams not using their facilities.
Board Of Governors Meeting Unlikely To Yield Final Plan
The NBA’s Board of Governors remote meeting with commissioner Adam Silver on Friday is not expected to result in finalized plans for the resumption of this season, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.
This speaks to the difficulties of getting everyone around the league to agree on a format and guidelines to restart the season. A wide range of options have been considered, varying from having all teams return to action to just the 16 clubs currently holding playoff spots.
Talks on incorporating the three most serious plans remain ongoing with the teams and the National Basketball Players Association, Wojnarowski adds, without specifying that trio of options.
Players Association executive director Michele Roberts has been conducting team-by-team conference calls with players this week, spelling out the various formats, as well as the financial implication of those options.
Orlando has emerged as the likely place where games will be conducted.