After initially declaring that he wouldn’t play in empty arenas if the NBA is forced to take extreme measures due to coronavirus concerns, Lakers star LeBron James walked back that stance in comments to reporters today. As Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN relays, James said he “had no idea that there was actually a conversation going behind closed doors” about extreme coronavirus precautions when he made his comments last week.
“Obviously, I would be very disappointed not having the fans, because that is what I play for — I play for my family, I play for my fans,” James said. “… But at the same time, you got to listen to the people that’s keeping a track on what’s going on. If they feel like it’s best for the safety of the players, the safety of the franchise, the safety of the league to mandate that, then we all listen to it.”
Thunder forward Danilo Gallinari, whose home country of Italy is among those hit hardest by the international coronavirus outbreak said today that he’d be on board with playing behind closed doors if the situation worsens, writes ESPN’s Royce Young.
“I am in favor, because I see everything that’s been going on in Europe, not just in Italy,” Gallinari said. “In all of Europe, they stopped every game, they stopped every competition, in between countries, too, so it’s not just Italy. The steps they did were playing normal games, then games without fans and now they’re not playing. Hopefully we don’t get to that point where we don’t play games anymore, but maybe as a step forward to play some games with no fans.”
As the NBA continues to weigh next steps, here are a few more notes related to the league’s coronavirus response:
- At an event on Monday night, Heat president Pat Riley expressed skepticism that the situation will get to a point where the league plays games without fans, per Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel. “Until the league says something or something else happens, I doubt that that’s going to happen,” Riley said.
- One high-ranking team executive who spoke to Ben Golliver of The Washington Post took the opposing view: “I think there’s a good chance we will be forced to play games in empty arenas at some point. The virus is spreading quickly, it’s not contained, and it will not be contained any time soon. The threat (to NBA players and fans) could carry on into next season.”
- Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced today (via Twitter) that the state is asking for no indoor events with spectators to be held. The Cavaliers would be affected by a stronger edict from the state government, but for now the team figures to defer to the NBA on any major decisions. The Cavs also don’t have a home game until March 24.
- The NCAA issued a statement today announcing that it “continues to assess” how the coronavirus outbreak will impact this month’s tournaments. A decision is expected in the coming days.
Way to make a global situation about yourself Lebron.
Way to make the coronavirus situation about LeBron.
Please forgive Lebron, he only speaks in espn clickbait headlines now.
They say KD is a snake but I feel like Lebron flip flops with public opinion a lot
Maybe he got more information and he decided to change his stance. Shocking.
You don’t speak out as completely ill-informed as he did on a topic of this significance and given his stature in sports. That’s reckless and stupid.
He only “changed his mind” once the backlash followed. Shocking.
Huh, what else has he done opinion wise thats so horrible? Lebron does so much for people but there’s always weirdos who have to judge every time the man breathes.
He got outplayed all year by Giannis but he sealed the MVP in 1 weekend. Stuff like that makes the NBA look really dumb/bad.
It should be Freak, Beard, King/Brow in that order. That’s how they rank Win Shares + BPM + VORP.
It’s about how hard he tries. Lebron was trying vs Clippers, I saw that. If he’s trying he’s #1.
He can change his mind… The situation probably requires that from most people. He gets heat for “making it about himself” but un-like most people, he can influence others more than most and that has to be taken into consideration. It’s a drag. He has to worry about his influence, not just react personally.
It’s really one of two things and neither paint LeBron in a good light. Either he realizes he’s on the wrong side with his original comments which doesn’t look good because it initially came off as a pouty child who changed his mind when he realized “oops”. Or option two, he genuinely didn’t know. Which looks really bad when you make a comment like “I’m not playing because I play for the fans” because then you look incredibly uneducated in your original comment. Be honest with how this really looks. This guy is in charge of almost a billion dollar industry with his brand and you mean to tell me he didn’t know about the coronavirus and how it could effect the league. That doesn’t fall in the realm of realistic. He would have been better off if he had admitted he was wrong. Because no other explanation makes sense.
“Came off as a pouty child”?? It’s called changing your mind. This is acceptable. A lot of people will be needing to do that after being aware of the scale of things.
Changed his mind because he wasn’t aware if the scale of things? What rock was LeBron living under where he wasn’t aware that they were talking about closing out games to fans for NBA games? He tried too hard to be the “player for the fans” and came off as a moron. That’s why he backtracked his comments. Because if you’re telling me he was genuinely unaware of the coronavirus, you might believe that players want their coaches who were just fired to stay or something sadder like that strippers really like you.
Wish you were able to change your mind but you still stick to lies. It doesn’t matter why you lie; one reason is worse than another.
You made your own straw man. I made an effort to say James was worried about his influence affecting others when he just wanted to react personally and did. It wasn’t about knowledge; that is YOUR shortage.
That you claimto care, bizarre.
What attempt did you make to say he was worried about his influence? You literally said, “it’s called changing your mind”. That’s not an attempt to explain anything. That’s the simple way to defend James after he made a gaffe. It’s simple, he said something dumb. Then came back and said something more dumb by claiming he was unaware of why they’d do this.
His actual comment “It’s funny, because when I was asked the question of would you play without … fans, I had no idea that there was actually a conversation going on behind closed doors about the particular virus”
That’s not someone changing their mind. That’s someone who got caught looking like a dummy. I didn’t know. Okay, bud.
Read my previous post, the one before yours, not the one after, where I continued in the same vein.
“[Lebron] has to worry about his influence, not just react personally.”
TThat was the last entence before your original post (OP). Maybe we posted at the same time so you couldn’t have seen it, but there was always going to be more than the two options you said.
My take: Lebron knew something but chose to play to expectations and his own game-time ways. But then DeAaron Fox & others agreed and he had to wonder if that was really a good thing.
Anyway people are allowed to change their mind in light of new facts. That does not make them stupid… Being stupid is hanging on to bad ideas despite contradicting evidence like HoopsR– and probably sabotaging change.
Most people have come a long way in a short time. I might be wrong about the value of thermometers (since I think specific info gets hidden by people being difficult.)
LeBron could have said no comment, or said nothing at all. He chose to speak in an uninformed manner, despite knowing how much of an impact his statements have. Actions have consequences for all of us.
If you are making excuses for him, you are a part of the problem.
Also, your whole line of reasoning leaves the door open for any person in the world to say something false or ignorant, then walk it back only after they received criticism. Ridiculous. Where is the accountability?
LeBron knew what he was doing, just as he did with respect to the Morey situation. If not, then he’s extremely stupid, and I don’t believe that to be the case.
It’s amazing how ignorant everyone is about the coronavirus. I doubt LeBron or anyone in the NBA leadership ever heard of it before. It’s literally a strain of the common cold. The current edition is a new strain that has a longer incubation period and greater risk of pneumonia.
I’m not going to say precautions aren’t needed, but the current hysteria is far more threatening then the disease. The plus side may be that people start washing their hands more and the cold and flu are less prevalent next year.
So you know it? You know europe’s hospital situation?
Dude, I love your statement
The overreaction– and there should be one– is temporary, due to a lack of information, testing devices, lack of command & control from the gov’t, and the overall lack of respect for & anticipation of viruses. There are no external cures, only delayed vaccinations.
People killing it off in their own bodies automatically can still spread it to others.
One fix is being ignored because it is only mostly accurate: forehead thermometers. There are many around already.
Biggest fix for spreading diseases is washing hands and being mindful to stay home when very sick.
Not entirely sure what your point is x%. I can only approach the situation as a doctor and say it’s better to be safe than sorry. I can also say it’s been frustrating for doctors dealing with patients lately. The paranoia is frustrating because it’s much harder to treat those who actually need treatment.
Self-quaratines are excellent but one-on-one personal advice in a doctor’s office is not what HR is covering now, nor big enough for covid19, which is going to be closing arenas and more.
You complained about overreaction in the OP. I disagree because there’s a reason for it so I said so. We’re not having a drink. You can disagree, but to not get it, IDK, I led off with this in plain words.
I might wish “clinicians” get firmer with patients regarding viruses and not provide false assurances, claims of a cure, or antibiotics, just to keep a customer. It should be illegal to do the latter without proof of need.
We are already seeing a decrease in the cold and flu because of the paranoia, which is a benefit, no matter how short lived it will be. The long term psychological trauma is what really does a person in.
It’s a threat but so far the death rate is 4%. all of which were elderly or sick to begin with. I think the players should focus on the game, not fans.
The catch of that 4% death rate is we only test those most sick. There aren’t enough supplies to test everyone that has cold it flu symptoms.
The reason there is paranoia is because of the unknown. Many more have died from the flu and it’s far more likely to get the flu. Both are deadly, but people fear the worst.
There’s no reason for hysteria, but there’s every reason to take measures, which (at some point) may include playing with no attendance. The difference with the flu is there’s no vaccination and no one has antibodies. If you don’t do something, a large percentage of the population is going to get infected. Granted, most of them won’t get very sick, or even sick at all, but a small fraction will. If you do nothing to prevent spread, this small fraction will be enough to saturate hospitals to a point where the health system might collapse. There’s no reason for hysteria, but downplaying it is utterly irresponsible.
No, the reason for the concern is that
a) if the disease spreads too quickly hospitals will become overwhelmed around the nation, and if that happens the death rate will go up.
b) the disease is so easily transmitted that, if left unchecked, we could see a far greater number of cases than that of the flu.
More cases + higher death rate + overwhelmed hospitals = bad situation. Do the math.
But apparently few people care to consider such nuanced thinking. It’s either total hysteria or downplaying entirely. Both are equally ignorant. Contrary to popular belief, you CAN take something seriously while at the same time not panicking about it in the least. I am living proof of that.