NBA commissioner Adam Silver has prepared players for a dark landscape amid the coronavirus pandemic, suggesting that there are no guarantees when fans could return fully to the NBA arenas next season.
Silver said 40% of the league’s revenue comes from money accumulated on game nights in the arenas.
“This could prove to be the biggest challenge of all our lives,” Silver told the players.
Silver said that no decision on returning to play this season should be made in May, nor immediately in early June.
Silver said returning to play this season at one or two potential sites – including Orlando and Las Vegas – made the clearest sense, and that no decisions on the league’s season had to be made before June.
Silver expressed a desire for the NBA to complete its season with a traditional playoff structure that includes streaks of seven games in each playoff round, but has left open the possibility of play-in tournaments to host multiple teams in one round. of the reduced season. Silver also told players that the start of next season could be pushed until December, regardless of whether this season has been completed or not.
