Commissioner Adam Silver: NBA Seasons Would ‘Cease Completely’ If Outbreak Occurred

TOPLINE

With a Major League Baseball club currently decimated by a team-wide spread of Covid-19, which has cast some doubt on the future of MLB this year, National Basketball Association commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged Wednesday that the 2020 NBA season would likely “cease completely” if there was a coronavirus outbreak inside the league’s bubble.

KEY FACTS

Key Background:

Following Tuesday morning’s report that a total of 17 members of the Marlins traveling party had tested positive for the coronavirus, Major League Baseball officials announced Miami’s season would be suspended through Sunday. However, MLB said it had conducted more than 6,400 tests to non-Marlins since Friday, all of which came back negative. The NBA has successfully shielded their players from the virus so far, but the fear is that it would spread quickly within a bubble environment. Consequently, league officials have rigorously enforced strict protocols. 

Big Number:

140: That’s how many days it’s been since the NBA announced the suspension of the 2019–20 season following Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert testing positive for Covid-19 on March 11.

Crucial Quote:

“Right now, it’s working,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said earlier this week. “We keep holding our breath. We’ll keep trying to do the right thing. That’s the biggest thing. We can’t get complacent because it does seem really safe. Right now, it seems like the bubble concept is working.”

Tangent:

National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts told ESPN on Tuesday that the league may be forced to return a bubble concept next season as well. “If tomorrow looks like today, I don’t know how we say we can do it differently,” Roberts said. “If tomorrow looks like today, and today we all acknowledge — and this is not Michele talking, this is the league, together with the PA and our respective experts saying, ‘This is the way to do it’ — then that’s going to have to be the way to do it.”

Further Reading:

U.S. Sports Leagues Have Been Remarkably Successful Shielding Players From Coronavirus (Forbes) 

MLB Conducts 6,000+ Tests As Marlins Season Suspended Through Sunday (Forbes) 

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