Mark Cuban 'Cautiously Optimistic' NBA Finishes Season on TV Without Fans

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said Thursday he's "cautiously optimistic" the NBA will be able to finish the 2019-20 season without fans in attendance amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Arash Markazi of the Los Angeles Times provided Cuban's full comments from an appearance on CNN:

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said last week the league isn't prepared to make any definitive decisions about when a return to the court will be possible or if the remainder of the campaign will be canceled.

"We're just not ready to set a date yet in terms of how long we can wait before we no longer would be able to continue this season," Silver told reporters. "I would just say everything is on the table, including potentially delaying the start of next season. We just need more information."

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski previously reported mid-to-late June was the "best-case scenario" for a resumption of play, while Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press noted Las Vegas, Los Angeles and the Disney World complex in Orlando, Florida, were among the possibilities for a "bubble" scenario.

The latter idea represents gathering all of the necessary teams—either all 30 clubs or, if the decision is made to waive off the rest of the regular season, the playoff squads—in one area to play games under a controlled environment. Players would remain quarantined aside from going to the arena for practice and games.

Regardless of the format, it's unlikely fans will be there to watch the contests in the immediate future.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, whose city is the home to 10 professional sports teams across the NBA, NFL, WNBA, NHL, MLS and MLB, he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that large gatherings are unlikely before 2021: 

"It's difficult to imagine us getting together in the thousands anytime soon, so I think we should be prepared for that this year. ... But until there's either a vaccine, some sort of pharmaceutical intervention, or herd immunity, the science is the science. And public health officials have made very clear we have miles and miles to walk before we can be back in those environments."

So any American sporting events over at least the next few months will probably be made-for-TV events similar to last week's 2020 NFL draft rather than the traditional games with fans in the stands.

Most NBA teams had just under 20 games left in the regular season when play was halted March 11.