The 2019-20 NBA season has been suspended for two months now as the world deals with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. For the Los Angeles Lakers, in particular, this has been a tough blow as the team was riding high after victories over the Milwaukee Bucks and L.A. Clippers.
There is still hope that the NBA season and playoffs will resume at some point, but when it will be safe to do so has been impossible to pinpoint. Commissioner Adam Silver held a conference call with players last week to update them on the NBA’s current situation, and reportedly shared that they may not reach a decision on whether or not the league will continue until sometime in June.
The NBA has taken a very deliberate approach to this crisis and is doing what they can to make a responsible decision, but Silver also made it clear that there is no perfect answer.
One possibility that has gained traction is the “bubble” idea, which would see players isolated in a specific location and away from the general public. Silver specifically named Las Vegas and Orlando as two potential destinations to house the league.
He also shared that it may be difficult to provide teams outside of the playoffs with the opportunity to catch up in the standings, which for the Lakers would increase the likelihood that the eighth-seeded Memphis Grizzlies would be their first-round playoff opponent.
Furthermore, Silver shared that the current Collective Bargaining Agreement was not created to deal with a pandemic, which hints that changes may be coming in order to help the NBA and it’s players cope with the massive financial losses that they are experiencing.
At this point, there is no way to know what the NBA will look like when it does return, but it would appear that several major changes will be necessary if and when play does resume.