By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
NBA commissioner Adam Silver admitted that the unpredictable nature of the coronavirus course has made it difficult to set a certain date when decisions can be made on the potential resumption of the season.
“Essentially, what I’ve told my folks over the last week is that we just should just accept that, at least for the month of April, we won’t be in a position to make any decisions,” Silver said in a video interview with NBA on TNT’s Ernie Johnson. “And I don’t think that necessarily means on May 1 we will be.”
Silver had mentioned that the NBA hiatus will be at least 30 days, shortly after the season was suspended due to Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert testing positive for coronavirus. .
“The fact is sitting here today I know less than I did then,” Silver said.
With the hiatus taking longer than initially expected, Silver and his staff have been also examining how the suspension will affect the 2020-2021 season.
“In a perfect world, yes we would try to finish the regular season in some form and then move on to the playoffs … but what I’ve learned over the last few weeks is that we just have too little information to make those sorts of projections,” Silver said as a sobering reminder. “I will say though that as I look out into the summer, there does come a point where we would start impacting next season. Now, even there, I think a few weeks ago nobody thought we were going to be talking about a potential impact on next season independent of what we might choose to do to finish our regular season and playoffs.”
In a conference call between USA president Donald Trump and leaders of major sports leagues, Silver was reported to tell POTUS that the NBA will resume only once health officials declare the situation absolutely safe.
“Factoring those things in, where will we be in May? Will there be an opportunity?” Silver asked rhetorically. “Beyond virtue of crowing a champion, what will the symbolism be of major-league sports starting back up in this country? I think that’s what President Trump wanted to talk to us all about on that call on Saturday. It wasn’t just a pep talk, but I think it was a reminder of what the meaning of sports is to Americans, to our culture in particular. In essence, what came back from all the leagues collectively was, once we get the all clear, however, that’s determined … we’re going to be ready to go.”