Damian Lillard 'Not a Big Fan' of Permanent NBA Schedule Changes Due to COVID-19

While the NBA is keeping all of its options on the table in hopes of resuming the 2019-20 NBA season, Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard doesn't like the idea of the league permanently changing its calendar. 

Per NBA.com's Casey Holdahl, Lillard explained why he doesn't want the NBA to push the start of the regular season to December to avoid competing with the NFL:

"I'm not a big fan of them pushing the start of (next) season back because then that pushes everything back. I really ain't a fan of that happening. Our break is during the summer and then you come back as the summer is leaving, I think that's been perfect. I think it's been perfect for us, so for that to change and things to be pushed back, I'm definitely not a fan of that and I just don't see many guys being a fan of that."

As the NBA season remains on hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic, commissioner Adam Silver has said the league is "exploring all options to resume our season if and when it is safe to do so."

Marc Stein of the New York Times reported there are "key NBA figures" who are willing to "experiment with radical changes to the schedule, such as contesting the NBA Finals in August, pushing free agency into September and starting the 2020-21 season on Christmas Day."

The idea of starting the season on Dec. 25 has been floating around recently. Atlanta Hawks CEO Steve Koonin brought it up last month at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference as a way to improve television ratings, per ESPN's Tim Bontemps:

"If King Kong is at your door, you might go out the back door, rather than go out the front and engage in a hand-to-hand fight with King Kong. Many times, at the start of the NBA season, we are competing with arguably the best Thursday Night Football game with the NBA on TNT, our marquee broadcast, and we get crushed and we wonder why.

"It's because at the beginning of the season, there's very little relevance for the NBA. The relevance is now. That's when people are talking about it."

Excluding years shortened because of a player strike or lockout, the 2005-06 season marks the last time the NBA regular season didn't start in October (Nov. 1). 

The 2019-20 NBA campaign has been suspended since March 12 because of the pandemic.