Silver Remains “Optimistic” That Season Can Be Saved
During an interview tonight with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver expressed hope that the current season can be completed in some form, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. While he admitted it’s way too early to guess when that may happen or what it might look like, Silver isn’t ready to talk about a cancellation.
“I’m optimistic by nature,” he said. “I want to believe we can salvage some form of the season.”
The commissioner said he discusses the situation every day with medical experts and Michele Roberts, executive director of the players union. He has also conducted conference calls with the owners to brainstorm possible solutions. Scenarios that have been discussed include resuming the season under normal conditions, playing the games with no fans in the arenas, or a one-time charity event involving players who have tested negative for the coronavirus.
“A third option that we are looking at now … the impact on the national psyche of having no sports programming on television,” he said. “And one of the things we’ve been talking about are, are there conditions in which a group of players could compete — maybe it’s for a giant fundraiser or just the collective good of the people — where you take a subset of players and, is there a protocol where they can be tested and quarantined and isolated in some way, and they could compete against one another? Because people are stuck at home and I think they need a diversion. They need to be entertained.”
ESPN recently reported that mid- to late June is the earliest realistic date that games can begin, and Silver said the league will be ready “when public health officials give us the OK.” He also indicated it’s possible that the current hiatus could lead the NBA to make changes to its future schedule.
Silver admitted that the country’s view of the coronavirus has evolved quickly since the decision was made to suspend operations seven days ago after Rudy Gobert tested positive. The league has ordered testing for eight teams since then, and six other players have registered positive tests.
“It was a larger decision than just the NBA,” Silver said of the shutdown. “… I think it got a lot of people’s attention.”
He identified Gobert’s test as a turning point for the league, saying it was a “split second” decision to call off last Wednesday’s game between the Jazz and Thunder. A game later that night involving the Pelicans and Kings was also postponed because one of the officials had worked a Utah game earlier in the week.
Kevin Durant Tests Positive For Coronavirus
Kevin Durant is one of four Nets players that have tested positive for the coronavirus, he tells Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Durant said he is feeling alright.
“Everyone be careful, take care of yourself and quarantine. We’re going to get through this,” he said.
It was announced earlier today that four Brooklyn players had tested positive for the virus. The Nets paid out of pocket to a private company to conduct the testing, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link).
The team elected to protect the identity of those players, but Durant was willing to go public with his diagnosis. Brooklyn said that all four affected players are isolated and under the care of team doctors, as our own Luke Adams relayed. Three of the four players aren’t exhibiting symptoms, according to the club — it sounds like KD falls into that group.
The latest news means that the total number of NBA players diagnosed with COVID-19 is up to seven, as the four affected Nets join a list that already included Jazz stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell and Pistons big man Christian Wood.
Four Nets Players Test Positive For Coronavirus
Four Nets players have tested positive for the coronavirus, the team announced today in a press release. Brooklyn didn’t identify those players in its announcement, but said that all four are isolated and under the care of team doctors. Three of the four players aren’t exhibiting symptoms, according to the club.
[UPDATE: Kevin Durant among four Nets players who tested positive]
The Nets are in the process of notifying anyone who recently had known contact with the affected players, including recent opponents, and has asked all members of its travel party to remain isolated and closely monitor their health, the team said in its release.
The latest news means that the total number of NBA players diagnosed with COVID-19 is up to seven, as the four affected Nets join a list that already included Jazz stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell and Pistons big man Christian Wood.
Neither the Jazz nor the Pistons recently faced the Nets, so it doesn’t appear there are any obvious connections between all the cases. Brooklyn’s three most recent opponents were the Lakers (March 10), Bulls (March 8), and Spurs (March 6) — none of those teams played Utah or Detroit recently either.
The Nets had been scheduled to face the Warriors in a game without fans last Thursday night before Gobert’s positive test prompted the NBA to suspend its season on Wednesday.
Christian Wood Among Knicks’ Potential Offseason Targets
We’re not sure exactly when the 2020 NBA offseason will happen, but when it does, Christian Wood is among the free agents expected to be of interest to the Knicks. According to Ian Begley of SNY.tv, some members of New York’s front office are “enamored” with the Pistons‘ big man.
Begley’s report doesn’t make it clear whether those members of the Knicks’ front office who like Wood will all remain involved in basketball decision-making going forward. A source tells Begley that the Knicks have been monitoring Wood for much of the 2019/20 season, which suggests the team had its eye on him before Leon Rose was hired as president of basketball operations. Rose is expected to make some changes to the front office now that he has officially taken over, and it’s possible the new executives will zero in on different players.
Still, assuming the Knicks create a good chunk of cap room by turning down team options and waiving a handful of players with non-guaranteed 2020/21 salaries, Wood might make sense as a target. The 24-year-old, one of three NBA players who has tested positive for the coronavirus, is in the midst of a career year, with 13.1 PPG and 6.3 RPG in 62 games (21.4 MPG).
Wood has been particularly effective since Andre Drummond was moved at the trade deadline, averaging 22.8 PPG, 9.9 RPG, and 2.0 APG with a .562/.400/.757 shooting line in his last 13 games.
As Begley points out, Bobby Portis, Taj Gibson, and Maurice Harkless are among the players who aren’t locks to return to New York next season, to the club could have some minutes to fill at the four and five. Wood’s age would also line up well with the Knicks’ rebuilding timeline.
The Pistons, who will hold Wood’s Early Bird rights, are expected to make an effort to lock him up when he reaches free agency, and he has expressed interest in re-signing with the team that gave him an opportunity to play.
Australia’s NBL Cancels Remaining Championship Games
Australia’s National Basketball League has announced in a press release that it has decided to cancel the remaining games of the Grand Final series between the Sydney Kings and Perth Wildcats. The NBL’s Grand Final series is the league’s equivalent of the NBA Finals.
The Wildcats had a 2-1 edge in the best-of-five championship series, with Game 4 scheduled to take place on Friday at RAC Arena in Perth. The league had initially planned on playing games that were closed to the public. However, Kings management indicated on Tuesday that it wasn’t comfortable with continuing the series at all, given the worldwide coronavirus outbreak that has resulted in nearly every other major basketball league shutting down.
“We respect the decision in what are extraordinary times for everyone,” NBL owner and executive chairman Larry Kestelman said in a statement. “We are understanding of not just the players’ health and well being but also their desire to be with their families, especially given so many of them have family overseas. Having consulted with the Australian Basketball Players’ Association we have decided the remaining games shall not be played.”
Although the NBL’s announcement stated that the series will be canceled, rather than postponed, the league has yet to say which team will be crowned the champion for the 2019/20 season. Kestelman suggested the NBL will weigh that decision over the next 48 hours.
“We acknowledge both teams for what has been a fantastic series and season,” he said. “Sydney was the only team to have gone through an entire NBL season on top of the ladder and Perth was leading the Grand Final series.”
Sydney’s roster features former No. 1 overall pick Andrew Bogut and Pelicans draft-and-stash prospect Didi Louzada, while former NBA big man Miles Plumlee plays for Perth. It’s possible that veterans like Bogut and Plumlee – and other NBL players – will be available to NBA teams if and when the 2019/20 season resumes, assuming they’re on expiring contracts in Australia.
Kleiman: “Not Very Realistic” To Expect Durant To Play In Summer
Nets star Kevin Durant is one of a number of players around the NBA who was ruled out for the 2019/20 season due to an injury prior to the hiatus. Now that there’s a possibility the end of the season could be played in June, July, and/or August, projected return dates will be re-evaluated, since many injuries may not ultimately be season-ending after all.
However, appearing today on Golic & Wingo, Durant’s business partner Rich Kleiman downplayed the idea of KD returning to play in the summer (link via ESPN).
“Honestly, not very realistic from my standpoint, and (we have) not even spoken about,” Kleiman said.
Durant tore his Achilles tendon in Game 5 of the NBA Finals last June, so if the NBA season were to return in mid-June, it would give him a full 12 months to recover. Although Kleiman didn’t entirely rule out the possibility of the forward making his Brooklyn debut prior to opening night in 2020/21, he clearly wanted to keep expectations in check, given the serious nature of Durant’s injury.
“It feels like (Durant playing in 2019/20) clearly was not something that was in the cards prior to all this,” Kleiman said. “And now, I think just like the rest of the world, it’s hard to take anything more than day by day.
“I think that Kevin is going to figure out the space that he needs to be in to continue to rehab during this time. But even that is hard to answer at this point, with the new kind of rules that were put in place last night.”
The “new kind of rules” reference by Kleiman presumably refer to the NBA indefinitely extending its ban on team practices and limiting contact between players at team facilities.
The idea of the Nets getting back Durant and possibly Kyrie Irving for a summer postseason run is intriguing and would certainly make things more interesting in the East, but for now it feels like a long shot. We’ll see if that outlook changes in the coming months.
Mitchell On Relationship With Gobert: “It Took Me A While To Cool Off”
Appearing on Good Morning America on Monday (hat tip to Scott Gleeson of USA Today), Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell essentially confirmed the reports that had suggested he was frustrated with teammate Rudy Gobert for the big man’s cavalier attitude toward the coronavirus before he tested positive.
“To be honest, it took a while for me to cool off.” Mitchell said when asked directly by host Robin Roberts about where things stood with Gobert (video link). “I read what he said and I heard what he said, so I’m glad he’s doing okay.”
[RELATED: Gobert Donates $500K To Arena Workers, Coronavirus-Related Services]
Although we don’t know with certainty whether Gobert or Mitchell contracted the virus first, or even whether one player got it from the other, the Jazz center faced criticism for not taking the threat seriously and touching others’ belongings at a media session and in the locker room last week.
Mitchell, who said he hasn’t exhibited any of the symptoms typically associated with COVID-19, expressed relief that he and Gobert were the only members of the Jazz to test positive. Following Gobert’s diagnosis, the team’s entire traveling party was tested for the virus. Mitchell was the only one of 58 Utah players and personnel whose test didn’t come back negative.
“I’m just really happy, to be honest – I hate to say that it’s just two of us – but that it wasn’t the whole party,” Mitchell said. “Neither (Gobert) or I have children at home. I know I have some teammates that have children, some staff have children at home. So I’m glad we were able to kind of contain it as much as possible.”
The All-Star guard, who told Roberts that he’s playing plenty of NBA 2K, watching movies, and watching his old highlights while he’s self-quarantined, will also be helping local students get healthy meals at no charge while schools are closed, per a press release from the Jazz.
NBA Hiatus May Extend Into June
The NBA’s hiatus could extend into June as the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread across the country, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The CDC now recommends that events with 50-plus people be postponed or cancelled throughout the next eight weeks, which includes professional sports games. This timeline projects to last until mid-May at the very least.
As Wojnarowski reports, the CDC’s recommendation comes as several team executives and owners believe a mid-to-late June return is the best-case scenario for the NBA. This scenario would not include fans in attendance.
The league office has scouted possible arena dates through August, Wojnarowski notes, remaining flexible for the unknown road ahead. The NBA was the first professional sports league in America postpone its season due to coronavirus concerns after Jazz center Rudy Gobert contracted the virus last week.
Over 3,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States were reported as of Sunday night, including 68 fatalities. Donovan Mitchell and Christian Wood join Gobert as the only NBA players who have tested positive for the illness to date.
Christian Wood Tests Positive For Coronavirus
Pistons center Christian Wood has received a positive test for COVID-19, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. Sources tell Charania that Wood has shown no symptoms of the virus and is doing well physically.
Wood is the third NBA player to test positive for coronavirus, joining Jazz teammates Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell. Wood was matched up with Gobert last Saturday when the teams met in Detroit.
The Pistons released a statement in response to the positive test without identifying Wood, relays Eric Woodyard of ESPN (Twitter link).
“A player on the Detroit Pistons, who is under the care of the team medical staff and in self-isolation since Wednesday night, was tested positive for COVID-19,” it reads. “A preliminary positive result came back on March 14. The health and safety of our players, our organization, those throughout our league, and all those potentially impacted by this situation is paramount. We are working closely with team medical staff, state and local government and public health officials and the NBA on reporting. The individual will remain in isolation and under the care of team medical staff.”
Wood may be headed for a huge raise in free agency this summer after putting up huge numbers since Andre Drummond was traded in early February. He posted 30 points and 11 rebounds against Gobert, then topped that with a career-high 32-point performance Wednesday in Philadelphia.
Sixers players were in self-quarantine as of Thursday and were hoping to get tests for players and staff members, according to Derek Bodner of The Athletic (Twitter link). There’s no word on the status of any of Wood’s Pistons teammates.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Players Dismayed As Games Continue In Turkey
Most sports leagues around the world have suspended play amid the coronavirus pandemic, but games are still going on in Turkey’s BSL, leading to fear and exasperation among the players.
A presidential spokesman announced Thursday that all sporting events in the nation will be played with no fans present through the end of April, according to EuroHoops, Turkey is one of the least affected countries in the region, with just six cases of COVID-19 reported through Friday.
Former NBA guard Shane Larkin, now a high-scoring star with star for Istanbul’s Anadolu Efes, sent out a tweet last night questioning why the league continues to operate.
“In no way do I mean any disrespect to any of the decision-makers that are responsible for handling this coronavirus pandemic,” he wrote, “but I do not understand why the Turkish league is continuing to play when every other league in the world is either suspended or canceled. I understand playing games behind closed doors makes things somewhat safer, but that is NOT safe enough.”
Larkin, considered one of the top players in Europe, is under contract for one more season, but he has an opt-out clause allowing him to accept an NBA offer this summer. He reportedly turned down opportunities last year, but the current situation might affect his upcoming decision.
Also Friday, players from the Galatasaray team in the BSL issued a joint statement calling for games to be suspended immediately.
“There have been no precautions taken prior to this for our safety,” tweeted Galatasaray center Zach Auguste. “Expecting us to participate in a game tomorrow during this pandemic is asking us to willingly risk not just our own health and safety but our families who live with us as well.”