A sense of Optimism about the NBA returning?
There seems to be a race between which team sport will return from a long hiatus due to COVID-19. Could it be baseball, who is discussing whether they can play at a neutral site in Arizona and Florida or even the NHL? Either way, sports fans and bettors are licking their chops about the potential of something starting up in June or July, but understand that safety comes first.
Even President Trump is pushing for sports to return and has met with several owners on conference calls to "reopen American".
One of those owners is Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who sees the NBA returning with no fans. "We're just going to have to defer to the scientists, the doctors who will tell us what we need to do to get the arenas in shape to be able to accept people and for those people to have confidence," he said on TMZ Sports.
According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, the NBA's Board of Governors will meet on Friday through technology to discuss strategies and concerns about returning to play. There appears to be some growing optimism that the NBA will finish out the season in some form, but without fans.
Unlike baseball, the NBA has a little over 3/4 of the season finished. If they play in a neutral site, even if they are away from their families, it will likely be just two months max (if they condense it) and that's for the final two teams involved. Baseball would try and shorten their season, but anything less than 100 games or half the season becomes a farce.
The other question is how long will it take for the players to get back in basketball shape. Most feel at least three weeks to a month. If you start the season back up on July 5 and give the players a week to prepare with the team, injuries could be prevalent. It's one thing to run outside, on a treadmill or if you have a home gym, and another to go five-on-five for 30+ minutes. The players need several weeks of practice and conditioning to get back into shape.
According to Amick, the owners want to save the season and feel the playoffs could be played until the early fall. Of course, that would probably chop up next season and that could start a lot later than normal. Many bettors and sports fans would probably have little issue if the league started the 2020-21 campaign in late December since football will be at the end of the line.
But there are other scenarios to discuss. If you start around July 4 and have a regular playoff format of seven games, the league could end in late September. The NBA is going to have to be flexible in order to finish the season out without ruining next season, while still following health guidelines.