Coronavirus Updates: EuroLeague, NBL, Bubble City, Salaries
The deadline on whether to resume the EuroLeague and EuroCup seasons is the end of May, according to league president Jordi Bertomeu, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando tweets. The final decision will be made during the last two weeks of the month, Carchia adds. If play is resumed, it wouldn’t begin any later than July, Carchia adds in another tweet.
We have more coronavirus-related updates:
- Players in Australia’s NBL have agreed to a tiered system of pay reductions, with players earning $200K or more receiving a 50% pay cut, Olgun Uluc of ESPN Australia reports. The minimum player salary of $60K will remain and those players making $80K or less won’t see a reduction. All players will have an opportunity during the two weeks leading up to free agency to opt out of their current contracts. However, each player’s NBL rights will be retained by their respective club, Uluc adds.
- There’s hope that immediate family members would be able to accompany their NBA-playing relatives to Las Vegas if they NBA opts for “bubble” concept to resume the season, according to David Aldridge of The Athletic. By allowing close family members to join them, the desire to leave the city during the resumption of play would be eliminated, an unnamed player agent told Aldridge.
- Players such as Ben Simmons and Pascal Siakam who signed rookie scale extensions last fall will have their pay reduced based on this season’s salary, not the first year of their extensions, Bobby Marks of ESPN notes. Players agreed to have 25% of their paychecks withheld beginning on May 15. Restricted free agents such as Brandon Ingram will also have their pay reductions come out of just their 2019/20 salary, not future earnings, Marks adds.
Silver: Still Too Early To Know When Hiatus Will End
Commissioner Adam Silver said in a conference call on Friday that there’s no way to know yet whether this season will be resumed, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.
“We don’t have a good understanding of exactly sort of what those standards are that we need to meet in order to move forward … because the experts don’t necessarily, either,” Silver said following a Board of Governors meeting, which was held via video conferencing.
The league continues to be willing to go deep into the summer and perhaps into the fall to finish this season. Players have been told there is no consensus plan on how the NBA will return, nor a “drop dead date” when cancellation would be necessary, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.
A number of factors will determine whether the season can be salvaged, including a reduction of the infection rate of COVID-19 nationally, the availability of large-scale testing and progress toward a vaccine for the novel coronavirus.
“Everything is on the table, including potentially delaying the start of next season,” Silver said, according to ESPN’s Rachel Nichols (Twitter link).
While there has been widespread speculation that the NBA would resume at a neutral site such at Las Vegas or Orlando’s Disney complex, Silver said the league isn’t actively pursuing any such “bubble” plan, Reynolds notes.
Until games are played once again, the financial losses will continue to pile up. Players will have 25% of their paychecks withheld beginning on May 15, the league announced earlier in the day.
“Revenues, in essence, have dropped to zero,” Silver said. “That’s having a huge financial impact on team business and arena business.”
Silver also revealed that more players have tested positive for COVID-19 than the seven who have been publicly named but wouldn’t give any more details due to privacy concerns.
Coronavirus Notes: Disney, Face Masks, Weems, China
The NBA has reportedly been exploring the idea of resuming its 2019/20 season in a single “bubble” city in which all teams would compete and all players would temporarily live. While Las Vegas has been frequently cited as the most logical spot for it, Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports makes the case that another location would work even better.
As Smith explains, Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida has more than enough hotel rooms to accommodate up to 30 NBA teams, and the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is capable of housing several, broadcast-ready basketball courts.
Furthermore, Smith notes, the NBA has an existing broadcast with Disney, which owns ABC and ESPN; Walt Disney World is private property, which would be useful in creating the necessary “bubble”; and professional sports have recently been dubbed “essential services” in Florida by Governor Ron DeSantis, creating a smoother path to games than the NBA might have in other states.
Here are a few more notes on the coronavirus situation and the NBA’s hiatus:
- Aaron Portzline of The Athletic spoke to a handful of doctors about the steps that will need to be taken before professional sports can be resumed and before games can once again be played in front of fans. The three doctors who spoke to Portzline agreed that we’re a long ways off from resuming large-scale gatherings, but suggested that tangible progress could be made with widespread testing for COVID-19 and for antibodies.
- The NBA and WNBA have launched a line of cloth face coverings featuring the logos of all 30 NBA and 12 WNBA teams, as Eric Woodyard of ESPN details. Proceeds from the sales of the apparel, which is available on the leagues’ websites, will benefit hunger relief organizations.
- Former NBA swingman Sonny Weems, who is currently under contract with the Guangdong Southern Tigers in China, talked to Vivek Jacob of Sportsnet.ca about his experience with the coronavirus pandemic, including traveling back to the United States when the CBA season was suspended and then returning to China when it appeared the league would start back up in the spring. The CBA’s resumption has been postponed until at least July, as Weems remains in China.
Top Prep Prospect Jalen Green Headed To G League
12:58pm: Green has officially committed to participating in the G League program, according to an NBAGL press release relayed by Liz Mullen (Twitter link). Todd has also committed to the G League program, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
10:38am: Jalen Green, the top-rated prospect in this year’s high school class, intends to play in the G League next season, Jonathan Givony of ESPN tweets.
Green will make a formal announcement on Thursday regarding his plans but he’s already informing his college suitors that he’ll enter the G League’s professional pathway program, Givony adds.
[RELATED: New details on G League’s revamped development program]
Green is the first prominent high school player to select the G League, rather than being a one-and-done college player or playing overseas until he’s eligible for the draft. As G League expert Adam Johnson notes, the decision represents a huge coup for the league after all of last year’s high school prospects passed up on the chance to play in the NBA’s developmental program (Twitter link).
Green is a 6’5” shooting guard from Fresno, CA who had a laundry list of suitors. He took official visits to Oregon, Kentucky, Auburn and Memphis.
According to ESPN’s prospect evaluation, Green “is a scoring and play-making guard who is only just beginning to scratch the surface of his potential.” Green played for USA Basketball in the FIBA U17 and U19 World Championships in 2018 and 2019 and won gold medals.
With all the uncertainty created by the coronavirus pandemic, the option of playing in the G League is becoming increasingly attractive to high school prospects, according to Evan Daniels of 247 Sports. Going overseas is much less attractive due to the pandemic and there’s no way of knowing if and when the college season will be played.
When the G League professional pathway program was announced in the fall of 2018, prospects were to be paid up to $125K. The league is now willing to go higher than that, Daniels adds.
Another major prospect, power forward Isaiah Todd, is also seriously considering the G League, Daniels adds. Todd is ranked No. 13 by ESPN.
Optimism Growing About Finishing 2019/20 Season
There’s a growing sense around the NBA that the season can be salvaged, Sam Amick of The Athletic reports.
Resuming play in one neutral site, likely Las Vegas, remains the most feasible scenario, Amick continues. However, other scenarios in which teams could play in various locations are also being discussed. In any case, the games would have to be conducted without fans.
Commissioner Adam Silver said on April 6 that no decision regarding the resumption of play this season would be made until at least May 1. There had been growing pessimism prior to Silver’s announcement.
The biggest obstacle would be to procure enough quick-turnaround tests for the coronavirus to ensure the safety of players, coaches, staff members and everyone else necessary to play those games and broadcast them to the general public. Routine testing would have to be conducted throughout the restart process, which would include an approximate month to get players ready for game action.
If the league is willing to push the season back until the late summer, it’s more reasonable to believe it can resume, Amick adds. In a scenario put forth by one team owner, players could start training in early June with the regular season restarting in July and the Finals conducted in late October. An abridged regular season or shortened playoff format could help speed up the process as well.
Coronavirus Notes: Fauci, Morey, CP3, Courtside Seats
Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s top infectious diseases expert, told Snapchat’s Peter Hamby this week that the only way to realistically restart sports leagues in 2020 will be by initially playing games without fans (video link; story via ESPN.com).
“There’s a way of doing that,” Fauci said, in reference to restarting sports. “Nobody comes to the stadium. Put (the players) in big hotels, wherever you want to play, keep them very well surveilled. … Have them tested every single week and make sure they don’t wind up infecting each other or their family, and just let them play the season out.”
In essence, Fauci is suggesting the “bubble” model that the NBA and other sports leagues have been exploring. It would involve teams and players congregating in a single city and playing games in a handful of locations with only essential personnel in attendance. They’d also have to stay at designated hotels.
Although Fauci’s comments were in reference to the MLB and NFL specifically, there’s no reason why they wouldn’t apply to the NBA as well — especially since the NBA wouldn’t need to house as many teams in its “bubble” once its postseason begins. While several roadblocks would still need to be overcome to make such a scenario a reality, it’s encouraging that Fauci considers it viable.
Here’s more on the ongoing coronavirus situation as it relates to the NBA:
- Although NBA commissioner Adam Silver has said that the NBA won’t be making any decisions on its season in April, that doesn’t mean that we should expect any concrete updates on May 1, writes Marc Stein of The New York Times.
- Amidst reports that players and trainers are hoping for a preparation period of approximately four weeks before play resumes, Rockets GM Daryl Morey suggested on Monday that players likely won’t get that much time to get back into game shape, per Ben DuBose of RocketsWire. As Morey notes, if every team has to deal with the same abridged preparation period, no clubs should have a competitive advantage as a result.
- Thunder guard and NBPA president Chris Paul spoke to Mark Medina of USA Today about the ongoing talks between the league and the players’ union, referring to the situation as “a wait-and-see game.” Paul, who said the NBPA is attempting to keep players as informed as possible, also noted that some sort of ramping-up period will be necessary before games can resume. “I guarantee guys won’t step on that court without feeling like they’ve had the right amount of time to get prepared,” he said
- Even when fans are eventually allowed to attend basketball games again, there’s no guarantee that the NBA won’t re-evaluate the existence of its courtside seats, says Adam Aziz of The Undefeated.
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl Alters Draft Decision Because Of Coronavirus Concerns
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl will not enter the 2020 draft after all. Head coach Jay Wright had previously said the Villanova forward would test the draft waters, but Robinson-Earl provided Wright with his final decision earlier this week, as the University’s website relays.
“A few days ago Jeremiah called me and told me he wanted to just continue working out and concentrate on getting better,” Wright said. “He said ‘ I don’t want to bother with the NBA stuff, so I just want to say I’m coming back. He didn’t want to make a big deal out of this.”
Wright added that JRE had gotten some feedback on his game from the NBA early entry committee and it was likely that he would have been drafted.
Robinson-Earl, who is No. 64 on ESPN’s big board, said the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus and how the NBA will respond to it played a role in his decision.
“The uncertainty of what the NBA is going to do did a play a part in this,” the forward said. “I just feel like I don’t want to worry a lot about that with the times we’re all going through right now. I just want to focus on getting better, going back to Villanova and getting my mindset on that.
“I did get some feedback [from the NBA] and it was good feedback. I just felt like I wanted to focus on being a better overall player. The feedback was that I would have gotten drafted but I feel like I can put myself in a better position just by coming back.”
Coronavirus Updates: Training, Gores, Taiwan, Testing
A 25-day program designed to get players back in action is one of the ideas being floated around as the NBA explores ways to resume its season, Brian Windhorst of ESPN reports. Players would undergo 11 days of individual workouts while maintain some measure of social distancing. A two-week training camp would follow with entire teams participating. NBA executives and training staff have expressed players would require approximately a month to get back into shape after such a long layoff.
We have more from around the league on coronavirus-related topics:
- Pistons owner Tom Gores will purchase and donate 100,000 surgical masks for distribution among Detroit-area health care workers, according to a team press release. Gores is making arrangements to buy the surgical grade masks from a supplier in New Jersey. The masks are expected to be delivered by mid-week. Michigan has been hit hard by COVID-19 with the third-most deaths in the country due to the virus.
- The NBA could learn some lessons on how to restart its season from Taiwan, believed to be the world’s only widely-recognized pro basketball league currently in operation, Marc Stein of the New York Times reports. Taiwan’s Super Basketball League is playing games in a gym with no fans in a smaller version of the “bubble” environment that the NBA will likely try to replicate, Stein continues. The only people allowed inside, beyond the teams and the referees, are camera operators for the television broadcasts, the scoring crew, and journalists.
- Playing in a neutral quarantined environment, with players and personnel isolated from the rest of society and undergoing frequent rapid-response tests, are the most logical ways for the NBA to resume its season, according to Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press.
Karl-Anthony Towns’ Mother Passes Away Due To COVID-19
Jacqueline Towns, the mother of Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns, has passed away due to COVID-19 complications, a Towns family spokesperson announced today (via the Timberwolves’ Twitter).
“Jackie, as she was affectionately known among family and friends, had been battling the virus for more than a month when she succumbed on April 13,” the statement reads. “Jackie was many things to many people — a wife, mother, daughter, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend. The matriarch of the Towns family, she was an incredible source of strength; a fiery, caring, and extremely loving person, who touched everyone she met. Her passion was palpable and her energy will never be replaced.
“… The family is devastated by their tremendous loss, and respectfully requests privacy in this time of great mourning.”
The Timberwolves’ big man had previously revealed in a YouTube video that his mother was in a coma after being diagnosed with the coronavirus. Towns’ father, Karl Sr., also tested positive for COVID-19 but was said in March to be recovering well after being briefly hospitalized.
We at Hoops Rumors send our condolences to Karl-Anthony, as well as to the rest of Jacqueline’s family and friends.
Gobert, Mitchell Work On Repairing Relationship
A report last Friday from The Athletic indicated that a rift still exists between Jazz stars Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, stemming from their positive coronavirus tests last month and the cavalier attitude Gobert reportedly showed with teammates and their belongings in the days leading up to his diagnosis.
One source who spoke to The Athletic even went so far as to say that the relationship between Mitchell and Gobert “doesn’t appear salvageable,” but the two All-Stars spoke on the phone on Saturday, sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). According to Haynes, the conversation went well and represented the first step toward repairing that relationship.
Prior to Haynes’ report, Gobert himself revealed that conversation with Mitchell during an Instagram Live interview with Taylor Rooks of Bleacher Report on Sunday.
“It is true that we didn’t speak for a while, a few days, but we did speak a few days ago and we’re both ready to go out there and try to win a championship for this team,” Gobert told Rooks (video link). “It’s all about being a professional. Everyone’s got different relationships, it’s never perfect — people that are married, it’s never perfect. So me and my teammates, it’s far from perfect. But at the end of the day, we both want the same thing — and it’s winning. We’re both grown men, we’re both gonna do what it takes to win.”
There has been a perception over the last few weeks that Mitchell has been the one angry at Gobert for not taking COVID-19 seriously before testing positive. However, a source tells Haynes (Twitter link) that both players had issues with one another. The Saturday phone call between the two teammates was a good first step, though there’s still work to be done to fully mend fences, Haynes adds.
Speaking to Rooks, Gobert expressed confidence that he and Mitchell will patch things up and suggested that their rough patch shouldn’t be atop anyone’s list of concerns when it comes to the effects of coronavirus pandemic.
“It’s not really about me and Donovan — this little fight is no fight,” Gobert said, per Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune. “It’s about thousands of people are dying every day, and it’s all about, ‘What can we do to help? What can we do to bring some positive?’ And at the end of the day, that’s really what my focus is on right now.”