Chinese Basketball Association Reportedly Postpones Season Until at Least July

The Chinese Basketball Association will not resume its season until at least July after league officials met overnight Monday "to discuss the fate of its season" amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to ESPN's Jonathan Givony. 

"The CBA had been initially scheduled to resume play on April 15, and teams had taken steps to call back American players," Givony wrote. "On March 30, the General Administration of Sports—an arm of the Chinese government—issued a wide-ranging ban on large-scale sporting gatherings due to concerns with containment of the virus.

"Further complicating matters is the entry ban that was implemented by the Chinese Foreign Ministry in late March on all non-citizens, including residents and foreigners with previously issued visas. Several players were unable to enter China, leaving many CBA rosters without one or both import players."

The season was originally suspended on Jan. 24, and it remains possible that it is canceled altogether as any final decision requires government clearance that won't be possible until at least mid-May.

The Chinese government has already prevented the CBA from moving forward as planned:

ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported at the beginning of April that the NBA is using the CBA as a cautionary tale, as there is now "pessimism" among NBA officials that the 2019-20 season can be salvaged:

"A big factor was what happened in China where they halted the return of their league, and one of the big reasons is because they really believed that if they just tested the players' temperature all the time that it would work. And the Chinese are finding that asymptomatic carriers are causing maybe a second wave in that country. And they have just slammed the brakes on sports."

Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune spoke with Xinjiang Flying Tigers associate head coach Mark Amaral for a story published Monday, in which the former Pepperdine assistant speculated that, once the league does resume, there won't be any fans in stands.

"If it starts, it will start maybe mid-May and run through June," Amaral said. "I don't think it will run much longer than that."

That prediction was outdated by Tuesday.