Amick’s Latest: TV Revenue, Vegas, Training Camps, More
If the NBA is unable to play its postseason this year, the national television revenue the league loses as a result would amount to approximately $900MM, a source tells Sam Amick of The Athletic. That estimate doesn’t account for the regional sports network revenue that could be lost if teams don’t play at least 70 regular season games in 2019/20.
As the NBA attempts to find a way to resume its season, those financial concerns are one of the many factors the league is weighing, writes Amick. Losing nearly a billion dollars in national TV revenue for the playoffs wouldn’t just have an impact on players’ and owners’ wallets this year — it would have a ripple effect on future seasons, likely forcing the league and the players’ union to renegotiate aspects of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and reevaluate the salary cap.
Here are some more of the issues the NBA is attempting to sort through as it considers possible plans, per Amick:
- There was concern within the NBA’s league office when Las Vegas mayor Carolyn Goodman appeared on CNN last month, pushing to reopen the city and use its residents as test cases. However, Amick says the “sting of that segment” has subsided and that there’s still a very real possibility that Vegas will play a role in hosting the resumption of the NBA season.
- A source with knowledge of the discussions tells Amick that the NBA’s early conversations involved the possibility of a four- or five-week period for training camps before the season resumes. However, as of late, those estimates have been adjusted to two or three weeks.
- No decisions have been made yet on whether all 30 teams would play if the season resumes. Still, sources tell The Athletic that – on a Wednesday call with GMs – commissioner Adam Silver encouraged teams out of postseason contention to “take a holistic view on the matter and remain willing to assist for the greater good.” Amick suggests that’s a clue that the league would still like to involve all 30 teams.
- No NBA player who has contracted COVID-19 so far has required hospitalization, and all have fully recovered, reports Amick. Given the strong likelihood that more players will test positive though, Silver remains focused on figuring out the medical aspect of a potential return. “It’s all based on medical,” one source told The Athletic.
NBPA President Chris Paul: “We Want To Play Bad”
In the wake of a report earlier in the week suggesting that there’s “overwhelming” support among NBA players to try to resume the 2019/20 season, NBPA president Chris Paul appeared today on ESPN’s The Jump (video link) and essentially confirmed as much to Rachel Nichols.
Acknowledging that there are complicated issues to work through, and stressing that the health and safety of players should be the NBA’s top priority, Paul stated in no uncertain terms that players are itching to get back on the court.
“A lot of hard conversations that have to be made, a lot of hard decisions,” the Thunder guard said. “But with the team around us, I think ultimately we’ll get to where we want to. Obviously we want to play. Oh man, we want to play. We want to play bad. And I think that’s a consensus for the guys around the league. We want it to be, obviously, as safe as possible. But the biggest thing is we miss the game.”
[RELATED: LeBron, Giannis, CP3, Other Stars United In Desire To Resume Season]
Noting that the common refrain among players is that they want to play “when it’s safe,” Nichols asked Paul what exactly that might look like, since no coronavirus vaccine is expected until 2021 at the earliest. The 35-year-old admitted he’s still not sure exactly what the best way to minimize the risk this summer is.
“I don’t have the answers,” Paul said. “I don’t have all the answers. But I know that people are working tirelessly trying to figure it out.”
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski wrote earlier this week that if the NBA resumes its season, the league won’t want to let one positive coronavirus test shut down play again. That means players will have to be comfortable with some number of positive tests, though it’s not clear how many would qualify as too many — that figures to be one key issue the NBA and NBPA will have to figure out in their negotiations.
Lakers To Reopen Practice Facility On Saturday
The Lakers intend to reopen their practice facility on Saturday, according to Shams Charania of Stadium (video link), who says the team has received clearance from Los Angeles County government and health officials.
In addition to following the NBA’s strict guidelines for individual player workouts – including having no more than four players in the building at a time – the Lakers also don’t plan to immediately make the facility available seven days a week, Charania notes.
Since the NBA began permitting teams to reopen their practice facilities for voluntary workouts last Friday, more than one-third of the league’s franchises have taken advantage. Portland, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Denver, Atlanta, Indiana, Sacramento, Toronto, Utah, Miami, and Orlando have all reopened their facilities on a limited basis within the last week.
The Lakers will be the 12th team known to have reopened its facility. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported earlier this week that the NBA thinks 22 clubs will be able to do so by Monday (May 18), though it’s not clear if the league has had to adjust that estimate in recent days as various states update the terms of their stay-at-home orders.
With the Lakers reopening for workouts, it seems likely that the Clippers will be able to follow suit soon. However, teams like the Nets and Warriors are still believed to be a little ways away.
Coronavirus Notes: Toronto, CBA, TV Broadcasts
Las Vegas and Orlando (Walt Disney World) have long been considered the frontrunners to host the remainder of the NBA season if the league decides to resume play in a “bubble” location, but they’re not the only cities that have been discussed.
Appearing on Tim & Sid on Sportsnet in Canada this week, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports revealed that, during his conference call with players last Friday, commissioner Adam Silver cited Toronto as another possible “bubble” location.
“(Silver) mentioned Toronto in that conference call,” Haynes said (video link). “He said Toronto is an option. He said he would like to keep the season in the States, but he’s not ruling out Toronto.”
In order for the NBA to ensure a safe return for its teams and players, the league will have to sort through a ton of logistical issues and concerns — having that return take place in a country besides the United States would add several more layers of complications. For that reason, I’d be pretty surprised if the idea of a Toronto bubble gains any momentum. Vegas and Orlando still seem like the most obvious candidates to accommodate the league’s potential resumption.
Here’s more on the coronavirus situation and its impact on the NBA:
- In a fascinating Insider-only ESPN article, Bobby Marks identifies some of the financial challenges facing the NBA, and – based on input from team executives and agents – proposes eight CBA and salary-cap tweaks that could help the league get through the next year or two. Among those ideas: Reducing the salary floor from 90% to 80% for 2020/21, bringing back the amnesty provision for one year only, and adjusting luxury tax penalties for next season so they’re not as punitive as usual.
- Mark Medina and Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today break down some of the challenges facing the NBA as it attempts to resume its season, speaking to agents who suggest that some players are conflicted about returning to the court this summer, given both the health and financial considerations. “My vibe is the influential players want their money, and they’re going to make the call,” one agent said. “The players are trying to have it both ways. They’re criticizing ownership for putting them out there and risking their health. But they also want to play and get their money.”
- With fans unlikely to be in attendance for NBA games or other sporting events anytime soon, Andrew Marchand of The New York Post explores how ESPN, Turner Sports, and other television networks may have to adjust their broadcasts.
Florida Governor Says State Open For Sports
After Arizona Governor Doug Ducey announced on Tuesday that professional sports (without fans in attendance) will be permitted in his state beginning this weekend, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made a similar announcement on Wednesday (video link via Andy Slater of Fox Sports 640 South Florida).
“All professional sports are welcome here for practicing and for playing,” DeSantis said during a news conference, per ESPN. “… What I would tell commissioners of leagues is, if you have a team in an area where they just won’t let them operate, we’ll find a place for you here in the state of Florida. Because we think it’s important and we know it can be done safely.”
Given the number of unknowns surrounding the reopening of professional sports leagues and all the work those leagues are doing to understand the risks of resuming play, DeSantis’ assertion that “we know it can be done safely” seems somewhat dubious. Still, the fact that the state of Florida is willing to accommodate professional sports could be good news for commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA.
If and when the league makes its own determination that the 2019/20 season can be safely resumed, games are expected to be played in one or two “bubble” locations. One of the top candidates to host that “bubble” is Walt Disney World near Orlando, so the fact that Florida’s state government is seemingly on board removes one potential roadblock for the NBA.
Latest On Potential Resumption Of NBA Season
The idea of the NBA resuming its 2019/20 season seemed to take a positive step forward on Tuesday evening as a result of a pair of news items. As we relayed, the NBPA sent a memo to agents informing them that the union’s sense is that players want to finish the season. Meanwhile, commissioner Adam Silver spoke to the league’s Board of Governors and conveyed a sense of optimism about the resumption of the season, suggesting that a decision might be possible within the next two-to-four weeks.
Both of those stories include several important details on the discussions that the league and its players are having, but we’ve got a few more related notes to pass along this morning. Let’s dive in…
- The NBA world is generally in agreement that it makes sense to wait until the “last possible minute” to make a decision on the season, in order to gain as much info as possible before then, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said this morning during a Get Up appearance (video link). However, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, there’s a sense that a decision can’t be put off until July. In other words, that decision is likely to be finalized in June.
- Wojnarowski and Charania both note that executives and players around the NBA – even on lottery teams – understand the financial ramifications tied to the decision on whether or not to complete the season. That understanding contributed to an “overwhelming” support among players for resuming and finishing the season, per Woj and Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.
- According to Reynolds, the poll conducted by the NBPA on players’ desire to resume the season gave a “clear sense” that players would like to play not just the postseason but at least some of the regular season as well.
- However, Reynolds cautions that the methodology of the NBPA poll – including how many players responded – is unclear. And Marc Berman of The New York Post (Twitter link) hears from a source that there was some internal miscommunication in the union and that the poll was unauthorized. For what it’s worth, one player told The Los Angeles Times that he thought about 70% of players were in favor of completing the season, which wouldn’t exactly qualify as “overwhelming” support — but that could have just been a rough estimate.
- Once the league formalizes its plans for a return, it will aim to standardize coronavirus testing among the 30 teams, tweets Wojnarowski. “The biggest issue is the number of tests, and we can’t take tests from those who need it,” one source involved in Tuesday’s Board of Governors call told Charania.
- Silver also said on Tuesday’s call that if one positive test is enough to shut down the season, then “we probably shouldn’t go down this path,” tweets Wojnarowski. That means, as noted on Tuesday, that the league is prepared for some number of positive tests — it’s not clear how many would be too many.
NBA Return Gaining Momentum
10:11pm: The NBA said on today’s call that it plans to continue doing its homework over the next two-to-four weeks before making any decisions on whether to resume the season, Wojnarowski writes in his full report on today’s Board of Governors call. Sources tell ESPN that the league still isn’t sure exactly what a resumed season would look like or whether all 30 teams would participate.
The league office isn’t necessarily optimistic about rapid-response coronavirus testing becoming widely available over the next month, but will continue monitoring developments in testing types, as well as studying the trajectory of cases in reopening states and examining how other leagues that are restarting are handling positive tests, Woj adds.
Wojnarowski also reports that the NBA is hopeful that 22 of the league’s 30 teams will have their practice facilities reopened by next Monday.
9:36pm: There’s more optimism about the NBA resuming its season after commissioner Adam Silver concluded his call with the Board of Governors today, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). According to Wojnarowski, the conversation included significant detail on how other pro sports leagues are handling their respective returns.
Positive COVID-19 tests may not result in a re-suspension of the season. Woj adds that the discussion between Silver and the Board of Governors touched on how the league and players need to be comfortable with some positive tests. It remains to be seen how many positive tests would qualify as too many.
The league continues to look for ways to resume the campaign as safely as possible. Silver used the term “campus environment” when referring to what’s being called a bubble, Wojnarowski adds.
The NBPA has sent a memo to agents signaling the belief that players want to finish out the campaign. Many of the league’s stars are unified on that front as they look to find a way to resume play.
NBA Players Committee Begins Parsing Comeback Plans
The National Basketball Players Association has sent a memo to agents stating that there’s a sense that both the players and the league want to finish the 2019/20 season, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
NBPA president Chris Paul is joined by Russell Westbrook, Jayson Tatum, Kyle Lowry, and Dwight Powell on a committee that is working with the league on potential plans.
Paul reportedly held a call with many of the NBA’s superstars on Monday — including LeBron James, Stephen Curry, and Kawhi Leonard — discussing the coronavirus ramifications and the potential to resume the season. Those star players were unified in their desire to play out the 2019/20 campaign.
The NBPA polled players via text, asking them how they felt about completing the season. One player told Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times that he believes that the percentage is “70-30” of players who want to finish out the campaign.
“But 30% is a big number,” the player said. “And what do you say to somebody who says, ‘You know what, I just don’t feel safe?’ It’s hard to argue that. But there are reasons to argue that because I know the NBA would be one of the safest places to be at. That thing would be tight, clean, protocol, all that.”
Las Vegas and Orlando continue to be tossed around as options to hold clusters of games in order to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spreading through travel. However, the league hasn’t made any firm decisions yet.
“We have been approached by multiple properties regarding potential options for hosting NBA games, including MGM,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said. “We have not engaged in any substantive discussions.”
LeBron, Giannis, Curry, Other Stars United In Desire To Resume Season
NBPA president Chris Paul arranged a private conference call with a number of the league’s superstars on Monday to discuss the coronavirus ramifications and the potential resumption of the 2019/20 season, league sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
By the end of the conversation, per Haynes, those players were united in their desire to resume the season once the NBA ensures the necessary safety measures are in place and gets the green light. According to Haynes, LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Damian Lillard, and Russell Westbrook were among the players on the call.
As Haynes explains, the group’s decision is expected to carry significant weight at a time when not all of the NBA’s players are necessarily on board with the idea of completing the 2019/20 season this summer.
Sources tell Yahoo Sports that many players on teams who are all but eliminated from playoff contention would prefer to just have the top eight clubs in each conference finish the season. The fact that stars outside the playoff picture, such as Curry and Lillard, are in favor of resuming play is significant.
According to Haynes, there was also some concern among players after Friday’s call that the NBA wouldn’t be able to guarantee player safety, with a coronavirus vaccine not expected to be available until 2021 at the earliest. Commissioner Adam Silver assured players that the league will do all it can to create the safest possible conditions, and it sounds like the stars on Monday’s call are satisfied with that promise.
Haynes notes that there are some players out of the playoff picture who are worried about a canceled season negatively impacting the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. That’s an issue we’ve touched upon in recent days, with Adrian Wojnarowski, Bob Myers, and Mark Cuban among those who have suggested that lottery teams will have to prioritize the “greater good” of the league, since the NBA and its players would benefit financially over the long term from playing as many games as it safely can this year and next.
As we relayed earlier this afternoon, the NBPA has reportedly begun reaching out to individual players to get their feedback on whether or not they want the season to resume.
Hiatus Notes: NBPA, Playoffs, Warriors, Fans
The National Basketball Players Association has begun to poll its members on whether or not they want to resume the 2019/20 season, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. As Woj explains, the NBPA’s regional representatives are among the union officials asking players a “yes or no” question about their desire to return to play amid the coronavirus pandemic. The union has assured players that their individual responses will be kept confidential.
While it may seem like a given that players on contending teams will want to resume the season, there’s certainly no guarantee that players on all 30 clubs feel the same way. Even among players who have a chance to win a title in ’19/20, there could be differences of opinion based on potential safety and health concerns.
With Major League Baseball working on its own plan for a potential return to play, pitcher Sean Doolittle published a Twitter thread on Monday outlining concerns that he and other players would have as they consider suiting up for the season. Doolittle’s thread goes more in-depth and lays out more specific concerns than those we’ve heard publicly from basketball players, but I’d imagine there are many around the NBA who share some of his reservations.
For what it’s worth, the NBPA said in a statement to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link) that the union “is not engaging in and has not authorized any formal poll of its players.” As such, it sounds like the outreach being described by Wojnarowski is informal.
Here’s more on the coronavirus situation and its impact on the NBA:
- A source tells Marc Berman of The New York Post that one scenario the NBA has discussed as it explores the resumption of the 2019/20 season would see the eighth seed in each conference up for grabs, with the current eighth through 12th seeds participating in a play-in tournament. As Berman explains, it would provide an incentive for a handful of teams who are currently out of the postseason picture, while not requiring the clubs at the very bottom of the standings to return and participate. Of course, it’s just one of many ideas the league has explored.
- The Warriors still don’t expect they’ll be one of the teams playing games if and when the NBA resumes its season, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t want to be involved, writes Anthony Slater of The Athletic. According to Slater, one Warriors coach suggested that playing a handful of regular season games in the summer could essentially function as a “replacement summer league” for Golden State.
- The NBA and NBPA are forming a “working group” and will have a call on Tuesday to discuss potential return-to-play scenarios, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic. Charania tweets that Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Jayson Tatum, Kyle Lowry, and Dwight Powell will be among the players on the call.
- In an interesting piece for The Athletic, Bill Shea explores how the pandemic will impact the way fans attend sporting events, once they’re allowed to reenter arenas and stadiums.