The NBA appears hellbent on making sure the 2019-20 season finishes, even if that means playing into September.
Like pretty much every other sports league in the world, the NBA is on pause amid the coronavirus pandemic. When the suspension took place, most teams had in the neighborhood of 18 regular season games to play.
The league reportedly is discussing the idea of holding the playoffs in isolation in Las Vegas, and during an appearance Tuesday morning on ESPN’s “Get Up!” Adrian Wojnarowski shared the latest on a timeline for finishing the season.
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“I’ve been told Labor Day weekend, that they would like to have a champion crowned by Labor Day weekend, which is obviously the first weekend in September — that takes you right to the edge of what would be the start of football season,” Wojnarowski said. “Now, does that mean if they create a scenario where they think they can have a Game 6 or Game 7 of an NBA Final on September 7th or 8th or 9th that they wouldn’t do it? No, but ideally the date they’ve circled is Labor Day weekend to have this finished.
“And of course that’s still almost likelier — I think almost certain — if you push it that far that you are delaying the start of next season. There’s no question that this not only impacts this season, but next season in the NBA. And that’s part of what they’re taking into consideration when they decide on dates now, what does it mean for next year? So those all are part of the conversations that are still ongoing now.”
Full playoffs typically take two months start to finish, meaning if the NBA jumped right back to the postseason, they could wait until about July 1 to resume games.
So, while the NBA seems to want to finish the season, it doesn’t sound like they’re going to completely rush to start back up — a wise move given the unpredictability of COVID-19.
