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Report: Adam Silver, NBPA's Michele Roberts to Hold Call for Players on May 8
May 6, 2020
NBA commissioner Adam Silver and National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts reportedly will hold a call involving the league's players Friday, per ESPN's Ramona Shelburne.
The May 8 date is notable because it is the day the league said it would allow teams in states with more lenient stay-at-home orders in place to open practice facilities. The NBA sent a memo to teams on April 27 saying such reopenings can happen, although only four players can work out together at a time and coaches will not be allowed to participate.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN provided additional information about Friday's planned call, noting Silver is joining what was originally an NBPA conference call with union membership just to check-in with players.
Despite this call and the ability for some teams to open the doors to their practice facilities, there won't be many doing so Friday.
USA Today's Jeff Zillgitt and Mark Medina noted only the Cleveland Cavaliers, Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets plan on opening on that exact date, while the Atlanta Hawks plan on reopening at some point next week.
The Houston Rockets had initially planned on reopening Friday, but Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pushed the opening date for gyms back to May 18.
On April 27, Marc Stein of the New York Times shared some of the guidelines the NBA provided for teams to follow when they do reopen their facilities. The league made it clear in those guidelines that it would work with teams in states with stricter orders in place to find alternatives:
The 2019-20 NBA season has been suspended since March 11, and there are currently no publicly known plans in place to restart by a given date.
"Across the league, an overwhelming majority of high-level officials remain encouraged and optimistic that basketball will return this season," Wojnarowski wrote Thursday.