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RETURNS. LeBron James has expressed his desire for the NBA season to resume. Photo from Twitter / @ Lakers
LOS ANGELES, USA USA – Adam Silver said Friday, May 8 that a decision on when the NBA can restart can come sometime in June, with the league looking to play in one or two centers with Orlando and Las Vegas as the top contenders.
Speaking in a conference call open to all NBA players and designed to update them on the state of the league between the close of the coronavirus pandemic, the league commissioner joined the call from executive director of the players union Michele Roberts.
Silver told the players that if there is no vaccine, the league could end up playing without fans in the stands in 2021, the US media said.
He wants daily tests for all players and those who test positive in quarantine. The games would continue with officials making sure others were constantly monitored and tested.
With troublesome travel amid social estrangement and requirements to stay home in various U.S. states, the league believes it would be safer to return to action in just one or two places, with Orlando and Las Vegas as favorites.
“There is no point in increasing the risk of flying from city to city if there aren’t going to be fans. We think it would be safer to be in one location, or two locations, to start with,” he said in a recording of The Call Obtained by ESPN. .
Silver also said that one of the “biggest challenges of our lives” was having assistants because 40 percent of NBA revenue comes directly from the games through tickets, sponsorship deals and concessions.
He said all 30 owners are committed to resuming play and the league is leaning toward a minimum of 3 weeks of training camp before the restart.
But ESPN reported earlier Friday that players were skeptical of the idea of basing teams in a giant quarantine zone.
The proposal failed after they asked how the area would be monitored to ensure isolation.
“When it was first floated, there was some dismay,” Roberts told ESPN before the call. “Are we going to put guards around the hotel? That looks like imprisonment to me.”
Las Vegas plan
“So the players said, ‘Well, I don’t know if it’s worth being away from my family for so long.'”
“We could do all of that, and then what happens when 1 or 2 or 10 players test positive after that 28-day isolation? Shall we shut it down?”
Reports last month said the NBA had studied the feasibility of hosting the entire postseason in a closed part of Las Vegas.
The NBA has been closed since the global pandemic stopped the sport, forcing the suspension or postponement of all professional leagues in North America.
Silver also said Friday that when the NBA season ended on March 11 after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive, Gobert was not the first player to be evaluated. He was the first to test positive.
Friday’s conference took place on the same day that teams are allowed to reopen practice facilities for limited training, which will be held under strict security protocols.– Rappler.com
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