After a number of setbacks and false starts, the Chinese Basketball Association now intends to resume it season on June 20, the league announced this week. As ESPN’s Kevin Wang details, the CBA’s 20 teams will be divided into two groups and will play in empty arenas in a pair of cities (Qingdao and Dongguan). According to Wang, the plan is for the teams to finish the regular season by July 4.
The Chinese Basketball Association was the first international basketball league to suspend its season due to the coronavirus pandemic, doing so in January. The league had originally hoped to resume play by the start of April, but had to push that target date back multiple times. While it appears that the CBA is now set to move forward with its new June 20 resumption date, it’s not clear whether teams will get back all of their international players that left China during the hiatus, Wang writes.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Following an investigation into bribes accepted by a former coach, the NCAA has levied a series of penalties against the Oklahoma State men’s basketball team, including banning the program from the postseason for the 2020/21 season. That’s a major development, since potential 2021 No. 1 pick Cade Cunningham had committed to the program. As Jonathan Givony of ESPN tweets, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Cunningham now reevaluates his options for next season.
- A series of ESPN panelists predicts which players will win this year’s major awards while also weighing in on which players should win those awards.
- As Mechelle Voepel of ESPN.com writes, the WNBA is proposing a 22-game regular season for 2020. Games would begin on July 24 and would be played at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, per Voepel. The plan is still tentative and would require players’ approval.
- Former NBA forward Mike Miller, who has spent the last two years as an assistant coach for the Memphis Tigers, has parted ways with the program, he announced this week (via Twitter).