The NBA announced Wednesday that it was suspending the remainder of the 2019-20 season for at least 30 days due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
If the CDC has its way, the NBA’s hiatus may last a lot longer.
BREAKING: CDC recommends the cancellation or postponement of all events with 50 people or more for the next 8 weeks https://t.co/Xk5XLLKiNT pic.twitter.com/fJ8JPX0B5t
— Steve Lookner (@lookner) March 15, 2020
CDC recommendation of no events of 50-plus people for next two months comes as a number of NBA owners and executives increasingly believe a best case scenario is a mid-to-late June return to play — with no fans. League's scouting for possible arena dates all the way thru August.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 15, 2020
Commissioner Adam Silver told TNT’s “Inside the NBA” on Thursday that the league will assess the next steps to take during the 30-day suspension. Silver did also acknowledge that it’s possible the season will eventually be canceled altogether.
It appears as if the league wants to avoid canceling what’s left of the season, particularly the playoffs, at all costs. The league seems to be open to the NBA Finals being played in late July or even August if need be.
There is almost no precedent to a major North American sports league canceling its championship. The last time it happened was in 1994, when a players strike forced the cancelation of the World Series.
In the meantime, teams have been told that they can conduct one-one-one workouts, but that group workouts cannot be held, at least for now.
