NBPA's Michele Roberts: 'I Don't Know What I Think' of Potential December Start

Michele Roberts, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, told Mark Medina of USA Today that she and the NBPA are still gathering information about the NBA's reported desire to begin the 2020-21 season on Dec. 22 before forming an official opinion on the matter. 

"I don't know what I think yet," Roberts told Medina. "We are in the throes of discussing it and in the throes of evaluating what it means in terms of the revenue-related issues that have been raised. Frankly, we're also spending some time trying to get information on what this means in respect to player health."

The 2019-20 season was suspended four-and-a-half months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Twenty-two of the league's 30 teams resumed play in late July or early August, with the 16-team playoffs beginning Monday, Aug. 17.

The Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat finished the season on Sunday, Oct. 11 after L.A. won Game 6 of the NBA Finals.

A Dec. 22 start date would be a quick turnaround for teams that made deep playoff runs, and Lakers swingman Danny Green said that could be an issue for some veterans in an interview on The Ringer NBA Show on Monday:

"I think most guys—if they say we start in December—I think they're like, 'I'm not gonna be there.'

"If I had to guess, if I had to guess, because we have a lot of vets on our team, it's not like we have a lot of young guys or rookies. ... To have that quick of a restart, I wouldn't expect to see [LeBron] there. I wouldn't expect to see him probably for the first month of the season. He'll probably be working out with us ... but I just don't expect guys to want to be there, or show up willingly.

"I think at this moment, and it may be different in two weeks when guys are like, 'All right, I'm gonna get back in the gym, start working out.' When we get back in the gym, it's not right to basketball. It's like, all right, let me start getting into shape, lifting a little bit, start running around a little bit. Then I'll pick up a ball."

Per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Brian Windhorst, the 2020-21 season would be shortened to 72 games to get the campaign done in time for players to participate in the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

The league is also considering no All-Star Game or All-Star Weekend, a play-in tournament and a two-week midseason break.

In addition, the NBA would not go back to the bubble format in Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, which it implemented for the end of the 2019-20 season.

The league would look to make some travel changes, however, including the potential of road teams knocking out multiple games in the same marketplace to avoid repeat trips.

Wojnarowski and Windhorst said that the NBA wants to move "quickly" with the NBPA to finish negotiations and come to an agreement on the plan.