Adam Silver

Commissioner Adam Silver said in a conference call on Friday that there’s no way to know yet whether this season will be resumed, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.

“We don’t have a good understanding of exactly sort of what those standards are that we need to meet in order to move forward … because the experts don’t necessarily, either,” Silver said following a Board of Governors meeting, which was held via video conferencing.

The league continues to be willing to go deep into the summer and perhaps into the fall to finish this season. Players have been told there is no consensus plan on how the NBA will return, nor a “drop dead date” when cancellation would be necessary, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets.

A number of factors will determine whether the season can be salvaged, including a reduction of the infection rate of COVID-19 nationally, the availability of large-scale testing and progress toward a vaccine for the novel coronavirus.

“Everything is on the table, including potentially delaying the start of next season,” Silver said, according to ESPN’s Rachel Nichols (Twitter link).

While there has been widespread speculation that the NBA would resume at a neutral site such at Las Vegas or Orlando’s Disney complex, Silver said the league isn’t actively pursuing any such “bubble” plan, Reynolds notes.

Until games are played once again, the financial losses will continue to pile up. Players will have 25% of their paychecks withheld beginning on May 15, the league announced earlier in the day.

“Revenues, in essence, have dropped to zero,” Silver said. “That’s having a huge financial impact on team business and arena business.”

Silver also revealed that more players have tested positive for COVID-19 than the seven who have been publicly named but wouldn’t give any more details due to privacy concerns.

Commissioner Adam Silver said in an interview with TNT broadcaster Ernie Johnson on Monday that a decision on whether to resume the season won’t come until at least May 1, Tim Bontemps of ESPN relays in a string of tweets.

Like millions of fans and everyone connected with the league, Silver said the suspension of play in NBA and other major pro and college sports has left a void in daily life.

“I think we are all realizing how much we miss live sports,” he said.

However, the stark reality of the coronavirus pandemic has made it impossible to know when games will be played again. Playing regular-season games as well as a postseason is still a possibility “in an ideal world.” However, there has been a growing sense of pessimism as the delay drags on with no end in sight.

Even though the league is willing to stretch this season into September to crown a championship, it also has to take into consideration that it doesn’t want negatively impact next season, Silver points out.

Silver is even more concerned about the 55,000 jobs affected by the stoppage of play in the league, including all of its game-day workers. Once it’s considered safe for games to be played, the sports leagues will be “ready to go.”

During an interview tonight with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver expressed hope that the current season can be completed in some form, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. While he admitted it’s way too early to guess when that may happen or what it might look like, Silver isn’t ready to talk about a cancellation.

“I’m optimistic by nature,” he said. “I want to believe we can salvage some form of the season.”

The commissioner said he discusses the situation every day with medical experts and Michele Roberts, executive director of the players union. He has also conducted conference calls with the owners to brainstorm possible solutions. Scenarios that have been discussed include resuming the season under normal conditions, playing the games with no fans in the arenas, or a one-time charity event involving players who have tested negative for the coronavirus.

“A third option that we are looking at now … the impact on the national psyche of having no sports programming on television,” he said. “And one of the things we’ve been talking about are, are there conditions in which a group of players could compete — maybe it’s for a giant fundraiser or just the collective good of the people — where you take a subset of players and, is there a protocol where they can be tested and quarantined and isolated in some way, and they could compete against one another? Because people are stuck at home and I think they need a diversion. They need to be entertained.”

ESPN recently reported that mid- to late June is the earliest realistic date that games can begin, and Silver said the league will be ready “when public health officials give us the OK.” He also indicated it’s possible that the current hiatus could lead the NBA to make changes to its future schedule.

Silver admitted that the country’s view of the coronavirus has evolved quickly since the decision was made to suspend operations seven days ago after Rudy Gobert tested positive. The league has ordered testing for eight teams since then, and six other players have registered positive tests.

“It was a larger decision than just the NBA,” Silver said of the shutdown. “… I think it got a lot of people’s attention.”

He identified Gobert’s test as a turning point for the league, saying it was a “split second” decision to call off last Wednesday’s game between the Jazz and Thunder. A game later that night involving the Pelicans and Kings was also postponed because one of the officials had worked a Utah game earlier in the week.