Name: Amick: Can this NBA season be saved? Sources say that optimism is growing
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Amick: Can this NBA season be saved? Sources say that optimism is growing

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Apr 16, 2020In most walks of life, the adage of “If there’s a will, there’s a way” works like a charm.And then there’s this.A global pandemic that touches millions and brings professional sports leagues to an abrupt and expensive halt, with the COVID-19 experience forcing them to reconsider their place in society at large while assessing the many morbid dangers that come with an eventual restart. Their business doesn’t matter in the grander sense, but there is a ton of money involved and livelihoods well beyond the athletes themselves to ponder. The collective will could be through the roof, and there still might not be a way.So with politicians, stakeholders and (hopefully) doctors as well as scientists filling their ears with all the latest perspectives, we now see all these commissioners coordinating with their people and while knowing full well that the answers and the clarity about how this should all unfold will have to come over time. Patience is a virtue, but it’s tougher to come by when there’s cash leaking out of every last crevice in your company.Which brings us to the ’s Board of Governors meeting on Friday that sources say will take place in … the digital ether. The meeting, which will be a virtual version of the session that is an annual affair this time of year, will take place over the video service of their choosing and will likely include Adam Silver reminding everyone that there’s no way to know whether the 2019-20 season is salvageable just yet. The NBA commissioner has said publicly that he won’t have a substantive update until May 1, but this will still be a place for the different viewpoints, strategies and concerns to be heard while they wait.Yet despite all the worldwide despair that has come with these past few weeks, with America soaring to the in both coronavirus cases (633,267, with Spain second at 180,659) and deaths (28,278, with Italy second at 21,067), there’s a reality within NBA circles that is hard to reconcile at the moment. When it comes to the prospect of saving this season in some form, sources say that optimism abounds in the ownership, player, agent and league office ranks.In the interest of full transparency, I didn’t poll every owner, player or agent out there. Not even close. But in making the rounds with some of the more prominent people in those communities, I quickly found it apparent that there’s a shared goal of finding a way of finishing this campaign and a widespread sense that it’s still feasible. Somehow. Some way.Without fans being present at games, of course.As California and Los Angeles Mayor in recent days, it will be quite some time until the sports world can return to the days of packed stadiums and arenas. Ditto for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who this week that a fans-in-the-stands existence is a long ways off for pro sports leagues but expressed a desire for televised games to return in the not-so-distant future.For the NBA, which has approximately 80 percent of its regular season completed and to cobble together some kind of postseason, the widespread optimism that this will happen remains. But is it possible?No one truly knows, but it is quite clear that these internal conversations about finding a solution remain robust. And Silver, whose track record as a respected and responsible leader affords him the benefit of the doubt here, is the one who must figure out what sort of schedule might be workable while never forgetting that the virus will have the final say.A few relevant thoughts that were gleaned from these conversations and that will likely play a part here…“Basketball guys are for it — they want to play,” one NBA player from a title-contending team wrote. “ (is) different (because) they have a whole season. We just have 1-2 months to finish up.”One looming question, the player added, is whether their families would be allowed to join them in the “Bubble City” or any other location they might wind up playing.But plenty of unresolved questions remain.With the testing shortage being such a serious problem to this point, will the NBA be able to secure the number of quick-turnaround tests necessary to ensure its players, coaches, staff members, et al. are safe? As guard/National Basketball Players Association vice president discussed on the , this is key.“The 45-minute (COVID-19) test results is big, the ability to be able to test and get the results that quickly,” Temple said. “I think if we have a situation where we know the testing can be done, where we know whether the person has it in a much more timely manner, and we test right before we go into the facility, wherever we end up playing, (is ideal). Everybody gets tested — if we have enough tests to go around and do that. I feel comfortable enough that the league will have it under control to where we can play if (all the players) are negative.”Even if the league could secure these tests, there is serious potential for a PR nightmare on this front — again.In those early weeks after the , when so many teams seemed to have little trouble getting tests for their teams while so many people enjoyed no such luxury and suffered as a result, there was criticism about the&nbsp;haves and have-nots element in it all. The optics weren’t great, to say the least.Not long thereafter, sources say the NBA made it clear to its teams that they were not required to disclose the results of COVID-19 tests to the media and, by proxy, the fans. Translation: The public doesn’t actually know how many players were infected by the virus beyond the seven that have been previously reported, but the choice was made to handle that information internally unless the player himself chose to share his information.There’s no value judgment here, per se, but it’s a fact nonetheless. And if the league is going to ensure everyone’s safety, from the players to the equipment managers to the front office executives and the older coaches like Houston’s Mike D’Antoni and Orlando’s Steve Clifford, who have suffered health scares before, there will need to be routine testing throughout the restart process.It’s hard to assess the ethics of this testing subplot just yet without knowing what the national testing landscape looks like when the summer rolls around. But considering the massive part that America’s testing shortage has played in this country’s struggles to ward off COVID-19, with the New York Times deeming it an “” and so many politicians echoing that sentiment, it’s safe to assume that this will be a raw-nerve topic for the foreseeable future. With good reason. League officials need to handle this part of their plan with extreme sensitivity.One team owner, for example, discussed a scenario in which players were given approximately a month to get back in shape (including their team training camp) starting in early June, the regular season began in July and the Finals were eventually played in … late October. Another owner agreed wholeheartedly that league-wide confidence was growing that this season would be saved, as did a few other folks who have a quality read of the room.There’s wiggle room within these informal discussions that appears to be aiding the mood too. Do you try to finish the regular season schedule, maybe cut it in half or go straight to the playoffs? Do you go with a five-game first-round format just to speed it up? There is, it seems clear, a willingness to be flexible that is keeping the NBA’s hope alive.For now.(Top Photo: Gary A. Vasquez / USA Today Sports)&nbsp;

Apr 16, 2020In most walks of life, the adage of “If there’s a will, there’s a way” works like a charm.And then there’s this.A global pandemic that touches millions and brings professional sports leagues to an abrupt and expensive halt, with the COVID-19 experience forcing them to reconsider their place in society at large while assessing the many morbid dangers that come with an eventual restart. Their business doesn’t matter in the grander sense, but there is a ton of money involved and livelihoods well beyond the athletes themselves to ponder. The collective will could be through the...

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Sam Amick

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Amick: Can this NBA season be saved? Sources say that optimism is growing

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