Report: Current NBA Season Expected to Resume Even If 2020-2021 Start Is Delayed

The 2019-20 NBA season is reportedly expected to continue play at some point, even if it causes the start of next season to be delayed.

Bobby Marks of ESPN reported the financial cost of canceling the season is a major reason play is expected to continue, though the situation remains fluid amid the coronavirus pandemic. The NBA indefinitely suspended play Wednesday night after a Utah Jazz player tested positive for the virus.

Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported the player who tested positive is center Rudy Gobert. 

The Jazz's game against the Thunder was postponed Wednesday night after a test revealed the player, who was not at Oklahoma City's Chesapeake Energy Arena, tested positive. Players on both teams and some media members were quarantined for several hours at the arena.

A game between the New Orleans Hornets and Sacramento Kings was also postponed later Wednesday night. Four other games were completed.

Any contingency plan for the completion of this season will likely be dependent on the spread of the coronavirus, which has been categorized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. As of Wednesday night, there have been more than 1,200 confirmed cases in the United States, including 38 deaths. 

"It's stunning, but we are where we are," Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told reporters. "We have to be smart in how we respond. This is people's lives at stakes. This isn't about basketball, this isn't about the Mavericks. This isn't about when do we start, do we start? Or how do we start? This is a pandemic, a global pandemic where people's lives are at stake. I'm a lot more worried about my kids and my mom who is 82 years old—in talking to her and telling her to stay in the house—than when we play in our next game."

Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press reported the NBA is planning to shut down for at least two weeks, though the situation is "very fluid." ESPN's Brian Windhorst said teams have been instructed to look into arena availability through July.

Cuban said on ESPN's Get Up that it's possible the NBA will continue playing games until August. He added he does not expect the season to be canceled.