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The NBA has taken great pride in being the first major American sports league to shut down operations in response to the growing coronavirus pandemic. It’s clear the NBA’s hand was forced when Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, but the fact remains that the league led the way in taking drastic measures, which were followed by every other professional league and the NCAA. The NBA’s response likely influenced how millions of people around the country viewed the severity of COVID-19.
Adam Silver has also said that he would like for the league to take the lead in bringing sports back, with health and safety obviously taking priority over the resumption of play. Despite his desires for the NBA to be at the forefront, Silver has admitted that he is as in the dark as anyone else in terms of the progress of the virus and the nation’s response, as he told TNT’s Ernie Johnson on April 6.
“Essentially, what I’ve told my folks over the last week is that we should just accept that, at least for the month of April, we won’t be in a position to make any decisions. And I don’t think that necessarily means on May 1 we will be.”
Silver isn’t the only one who wants to use sports to help reopen the economy — the President of the United States is planning to convene a committee consisting of league commissioners and prominent team governors to discuss strategies for this mission.
Sources: President Donald Trump is scheduled to hold a call Wednesday with his committee focused on reopening America, which includes major-league commissioners, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 15, 2020
Whether sports should be the government’s priority at this point is an entirely different question, but Silver is clearly in the president’s ear when it comes to discussing the American economy. Hopefully, his approach to dealing with the virus as the commissioner resonates with the president and the committee. This might be one way that the NBA can show some leadership.
On to the links...
- The Chinese Basketball Association, which has been a template for the NBA in terms of how resume operations during the pandemic, once again delayed its restart date to at least July 1.
- The Taiwanese Super Basketball League has completed its regular season and moved on its postseason. It’s important to note that the SBL only has five teams, and Taiwan hasn’t suffered from the coronavirus to the same extent as the USA.
- The Chicago Bulls have received approval from the Clippers to interview Assistant GM Mark Hughes for their GM opening.
ESPN Sources: The Bulls and Arturas Karnisovas had permission granted to interview three of the franchise's GM candidates this week: Marc Eversley (76ers), Mark Hughes (Clippers) and Matt Lloyd (Magic).
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 14, 2020
- A Clippers season-ticket holder has turned his family business into a PPE supplier.
- Louis Keene of Unstatable (and of the Same Old Clippers podcast) is digging into the economic implications of the Clippers Inglewood arena project.
- Hoops Habit ranked the last 10 Clippers first-round draft picks.
- Clipperholics examined how the Clippers built a title contender without rebuilding.
- Not Clippers news, but NBA veteran Trevor Booker announced his retirement. Booker hit one of the ridiculous shots I have ever seen in an NBA game in 2015.