NBA Does Not Plan To Pause Season As COVID-19 Cases Increase

The NBA has a growing COVID-19 problem on its hands.

The league canceled the second game of its 2020-21 season Sunday after an unidentified Heat player returned an inconclusive test ahead of Miami’s game against the Boston Celtics. The Heat failed to meet the eight-player requirement to play as a result.

The Philadelphia 76ers had a bit of a problem on their hands, too, after Seth Curry spent the first quarter of Thursday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets on the bench before his positive test results came back. He immediately left the court and self-isolated, but it led to the Sixers playing with just eight bodies in Saturday’s loss to the Denver Nuggets.

Some wondered if all this would be enough for the NBA to pause the season, even briefly. After all, the league was the first to shut down in mid-March after Utah Jazz star Rudy Gobert tested positive, so the idea doesn’t seem too far fetched.

But NBA spokesperson Mike Bass confirmed the league isn’t heading in that direction at the moment.

“We anticipated that there would be game postponements this season and planned this season accordingly,” Bass said Sunday, via The New York Times’ Sopan Deb. “There are no plans to pause the season. We will continue to be guided by our medical experts and our health and safety protocols.”

The NBA reportedly plans to implement additional protocols in wake of the recent increase in cases. Whether it’ll be enough to keep the league from pausing the season in the future, however, remains to be seen.