Sources: Expect the NBA back playing by mid/late June with 10 reg season games before POs

Rofl, probably meant the United front of superstars that supported Silver in his endeavor to restart the league.

 

I'm glad River called Kyrie out as a fake since Kyrie has made more than 99 Perce my of all NBA players, so Kryie don't need the money.

River said the other 99 percent of players need money, they didn't make $200 million like Kyrie who doesn't have anything to play for anyway.

 

Westbrook and Rivers are doing so well for exposure. Honestly, Rivers' instagram post should D.I.O.T at this point.

Respected Kyrie's POV yet offered up his own without stepping on Kyrie's POV in the process. Lots of tact, class and truth.

 

To be honest, I don't really care if this season will resume. It's all about money at this point for the owners and the players. But people who think that this would be a temp thing and the next season will be back to normal are delusional. We are looking at two asterisked seasons at the least.

That said, I don't buy Kyrie's logic. Sports is a unifying thing for racial problems. Walking away from it in order to support a racial movement is counter productive, especially consider the high percentage of blacks among NBA players.

 

Exactly. They add more power to the cause by playing because it's a black dominated league. They can protest and send messages while playing

The players that should sit out the season are the black College football player. Risking health for racist boosters and fans, meanwhile, you don't have black College football coach

 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/13/sports/nba-players-trying-make-best-bad-situation/

National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts said she fully realizes there is no foolproof plan to keep the players from contracting COVID-19 during the season resumption in the Orlando bubble. Yet her choices for negotiation were limited: find a suitable and safer plan to resume the season or wait until there is a vaccine and perhaps cost the league two seasons.

Firstly, Roberts told the Globe the NBPA is prepared for several players to test positive just because of the contagiousness of the virus, regardless of the league’s safety measures and social distancing.

“Of course [the players] understand it could be a positive test and they want to know what the protocol is,” Roberts said this past week. “No one is saying, ‘Suppose a player tests positive?’ We’re beyond that. The question now is, ‘When a player tests positive, what are we going to do?’ ”

The player will be quarantined for as many as two weeks and will be treated and consistently tested. Meanwhile, the pool of players, coaches, and team executives are expected to be tested daily during the league’s time at Disney.

“That’s the only realistic mind-set you can have going into this. A player is going to test positive,” Roberts said. “It’s not any more of this ‘if’, it’s ‘when’ and what can I do to mitigate against the ‘when.’ When it happens, if I’m not successful, what treatment is available to me, what are my chances of being really, really sick, and how are you detecting the presence of an infection?

“Honestly, I don’t think this is any different than what any American has to come to grips with.”

While there was a reported players’ call Friday to discuss concerns of being in the Orlando bubble for as many as 10 weeks, Roberts said the players’ concern has dissipated as education on the virus and safety measures have increased.

“At the very beginning when we were being told that this was a disease that people like me [middle-aged] had to worry about, it was more of an annoyance for the players, except for those who had family members my age,” Roberts said. “But it was not something they thought was going to have this kind of an impact on their lives or their livelihood. As time went on and the seriousness was revealed there were times when players were very concerned about it, especially when it became clear it was not confined to folks over 60.

“I got really serious questions. ‘Is this something I need to be worried about? Can it kill me? Can it impact my ability to continue to play basketball?’

“That keeps going on. But then you had to get to the point where everybody had to get to. Do I wait until there’s a vaccine? Or do I figure out a way to accept there’s a protocol that can mitigate this? Do I take a risk?”

Roberts said no player is being mandated to play and there will be no repercussions — besides financially — if a player decides to sit out the season.

“I don’t believe any player would say this was forced upon them, it’s not,” she said. “Not a single player has to play. This is not involuntary servitude. I don’t have to work. They don’t have to work. But it’s of course a mitigation of risk with the players. On this health and safety protocol, I’m satisfied that it can’t be any better than this. But I’m candid that it’s not bulletproof.”

Roberts said the consensus she received from players over weeks of conversations is that most want to return to play and try to finish the season.

“I think the players are where they want to be,” she said. “They want to give it a shot and if it doesn’t work, well, we tried. Hopefully nothing catastrophic will happen and we can just figure out Plan B.

“If the worst would happen and it would spread, we shut it down.

“This is the virus. I’m going to be disheartened, but I’m not going to be surprised because there’s no scientific or medical ability to protect against it. The players know it. The teams know it.

“We’re doing absolutely everything we can to mitigate it. If I didn’t think we were, that the league was half-stepping, then I would recommend with every ounce of my being that our players not even think about playing again. But that’s thankfully not the case.”

Roberts said pushing forward with a plan to play — despite the lack of a vaccine and increasing cases in some areas of Florida — was difficult. But the NBA revealed there would be no plan that would include risk of contraction.

“It’s a tough decision because it’s about people’s health,” she said. “Having said that, this is at least the new normal for a while. If it’s another 18 months before a vaccine and we’re going to have to figure out a way to manage through it.”

And finally, the league has a tentative start date for the 2020-21 season, Dec. 1. If the NBA Finals conclude in early October, that would be a seven-week offseason for players to rest, free agents to sign, players to sign extensions, and rookies to be integrated to new teams.

Roberts said no opening date has been agreed and the NBA can’t set a schedule without the union’s consent. Meanwhile, those 2020-21 games likely will be without fans.

“Dec. 1 is not an attractive option,” she said. “Those are tough questions that have to be resolved. How do we address the revenue challenges this virus has created and will create next season? I don’t know when they’re going to have fans back in the arena. I don’t think we’re going to have them in October.

“There are a number of factors that will impact when the season will begin. I don’t know if we’re going to have a second spike. What’s the virus going to look like? And if you’re going to talk about a compressed season, we were able to reduce the amount of back-to-back games, the notion of returning to that and the obvious injury risk that come along with that, is not attractive. But nothing will happen without the players signing off. That’s for sure.”

 

I would care about a result.

Worst case if Orlando falls through

1. Automatic declaration of the champions
depending on regular season records

Milwaukee Bucks most likely unless the Lakers object succesfully.

2. Via safer options
Horse shootout via video conference
E-sports contest, NBA 2019

It sounds bizarre however I would care.

 

I'd endorse this format:

Each team send one player to do a step-back 3 shooting contest. Winner takes all.

 

The bolded quote above from NBA Players Exec Michele Roberts is incredibly wrong and ignorant. Her misguided stance has the potential of completely ruining this year's season.

As time has gone on, the data on deaths and severe illnesses linked to COVID has REINFORCED that this is a disease of the elderly. Median age of death in the USA from COVID is 80 y/o. Half of deaths were in nursing homes. For those 65 y/o and younger, there's a greater chance of dying in a car crash than there is of dying IF you contract COVID. For those 45 y/o and younger (100% of NBA players), there's a greater chance of dying from a lightning strike. NBA players (young, healthy, great lungs, great heart conditions) are among the LEAST vulnerable to this disease. That's the data. We need to be data-driven, not fear driven. Michele Roberts (who is 64 y/o by the way) is dealing with bias, not data, and it's going to cost us this season.

 

This whole thing has clearly shifted to other issues.

1. Systematic racism
Try to push for change whether it is by playing or by sitting out

2. Players wanting extra insurance and incentives if a major injury happens due to not being able to play competitive ball for so long

I think the Covid 19 issue lost some traction.

 

I appreciate your enthusiasm and optimism.

I dont think it will happen.
Maybe a team with hartenstein and house medium scrub level.

I just don't see how a guy like harden is going to risk millions in infection to go play for an asterisk locked up 8 weeks?
you guys REALLY think this is going to happen?

I dont and i hope Im wrong but if I was harden westbrook no way in hell I would go. Especially when westbrook and harden still have some years left. I expect many to play the injury card if push comes to shove.

Risk reward folks. I just dont see it. I hope im wrong

 

I can see Harden and WB go to WDW, they are that hungry for an asterisk title.

I am not advising them for or against it.

 

I want to see them play like anyone else I just don't see how. No way..

Yeah there will be the guys that really want to ...and then those that need the money. Perhaps if can get a mob mentality and enough of them in then yeah some might latch on.

But how much is that playoff share really?

8 weeks potentially to get what playoff share? What about those that risk and dont make playoffs? How much do they get? Early exit playoff teams?

If there was more of a season maybe but 8 games for some to go home? All that for that?

These guys make like 40 million a year why the hell would they go risk that?

I just dont see it

 

Right, but the point I'm making is that the risk is incredibly low to someone like James Harden or Russell Westbrook or really any NBA player. There exist far greater risks that they voluntarily ignore in their daily lives. I also think you have to assess the risk of NOT playing. How many fans will come back? How many people will adjust their lifestyles and interests, as many have done during COVID, to explore other pursuits? If this happens, there will assuredly be a loss in future revenue to the sports, which will translate into smaller contracts in the future. Will their skills decline with inactivity, allowing other players to replace them on the roster or on the All-Star team? I would argue these risks exceed the risk of a young, healthy athlete getting seriously ill from COVID.

Furthermore, look at the NBA players that have already gotten COVID - they seem to be just fine.

 

Serious question: More risk by returning to play in Orlando or more risk with what NBA'ers do in their free time? I am not in any way attempting to characterize or guess as to what NBA'ers do with their free time and we cannot generalize as that is a pool of hundreds of people. For every party animal, there's probably a shane battier. Maybe 2 party animals to 1 shane battiers, who knows. Anyhow...

returning to play:
- risk: practice and meeting time with team and coaches, games against opponents who have played other opponents.
- mitigation: presumably there is extensive testing, tracing etc that is a good faith attempt to mitigate risk

Not playing/what they do with free time:
- risk: do we think NBA'ers are quarantining/social distancing? Some are, some are not, so it's tough to guess as to whether they would have more or fewer "contacts" with other people, as compared to the time spent practicing and playing.
- mitigation: qualitatively, the contacts with other people are likely higher risk than while NBA'ing because there is no mitigation.

 

Fair and this last point is probably the biggest why it could happen.

But if im harden or westbrook making 40 million gotta go 8 weeks on lock down risk infection , major lifestyle adjustment all for 8 games a measly playoff share and risk infection/ unknown on my 40 million a year body?

Umm thats an easy pass.
Normally i disagree jorge but for once I hope you are right. You never are so Im treating this as an olive branch moment and hope they can play. I have high hopes for a hartenstein led team btw

 

I for one will watch every game when it comes back. If it comes back.

 

Obligatory joke: It's more risk for Harden to go to strip clubs than to play in Orlando.
Crucial question: Will strip clubs be reopened by July?