By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
The 2020-21 NBA season will start on MLK Day or December 22, Indiana Pacers guard and National Basketball Players Association vice president Malcolm Brogdon said during an appearance on ESPN’s The Jump.
“I think those are the two options,” he said. “We’re either going to start MLK Day, which I think a lot of the players are leaning towards, or we’re going to start the 22nd, Christmastime.”
He confirmed a recently-surfaced report regarding NBA and NBPA discussions on the start date of the next season. Diving into the debate, he noted additional pointers, including the financial part.
“The huge difference is revenue. Revenue, and trying to get the season back on track to start in that September-October range,” he added, “So I think calculations are being done on both sides on how much revenue would be lost for each potential date, and we’ll have to come to some type of agreement and go from there.”
Brogdon also mentioned that he “absolutely” expects the deadline for both involved parties to opt-out of the collective bargaining agreement to be pushed back beyond Friday.
“The way talks are going, this is a super-complicated issue, and there’s a lot to balance,” he claimed, “[There’s] a lot of minds working on this collaboratively, on both sides. So it’s going to take some time. I don’t think a few weeks, but I think it will take at least a few more days.”
The NBA players suiting up to represent their country in the Olympic Games or/and the Qualifying Tournaments planned for next summer will depend on the start date agreed and mainly the remaining schedule of the next season.
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