Report: NBA 'Very Determined' to Have Champion Crowned, Open to Multiple Options
The NBA reportedly wants to avoid the coronavirus pandemic leaving the 2019-20 season unresolved.
"They're very determined to have a champion," an anonymous industry source told Marc Berman of the New York Post.
Berman relayed that league executives "still cling to hope of arranging a one-site, fan-less, 16-team playoff" preceded by five-to-seven games wrapping up the regular season.
A different anonymous league official told Berman that "nothing is off the table."
The NBA suspended all play following March 11's slate of games.
The frontrunner to host the potential one-site playoff is Las Vegas' UNLV campus, but internal talks have taken place about Atlantic City, Hawaii, Louisville and Orlando as host cities.
"The best-case scenario is looking like a late June/early July start-up with the idea of the 2020-21 season not commencing until Christmas," Berman wrote.
Los Angeles Lakers All-Star LeBron James spoke about his preference while on the Road Trippin' podcast last week (h/t Sports Illustrated's Melissa Rohlin):
"One thing you can't just do is go straight to the playoffs. Because it discredits the 60-plus games that guys had fighting for that position.
"... I think maybe one and a half, two weeks of a little mini training camp, and then maybe five to 10 games to get ready for the playoffs. If we're talking about just finishing the regular season, then you don't need that much. You could do a week of training camp and then get back into it."
Commissioner Adam Silver spoke with ESPN's Rachel Nichols about the hiatus and eventually resuming the season earlier this month:
ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported over the weekend that the NBA "has been watching the Chinese Basketball Association," which won't return until at least late April or early May, for strategies to safely carry out the rest of the season.
Only four teams—the 53-12 Milwaukee Bucks, 49-14 Lakers, 46-18 Toronto Raptors and 43-21 Boston Celtics—had clinched a playoff berth before the season was suspended.
