Clippings: Next NBA season could start in December

The NBA has been the leader among North American sports leagues during the coronavirus shutdown, from being the first league to go on hiatus after players became infected, to talking through options for when the current season could be resumed.

While the league is still batting around ideas for when play can safely resume, they’re feeling the heat in terms of trying to make concrete decisions, according to Adrian Wojnarowski on ESPN Thursday.

Commissioner Adam Silver previously said the NBA would not make any decisions before May 1. But today...is May 1 (can you believe it?!), and while Silver never said the league would make concrete plans by today, many folks are interpreting this date as one where things will start happening. Will they? Who knows, the situation still looks pretty muddy.

One new tidbit from Wojnarowski’s report: The league is discussing the possibility the 2020-21 season could start in December and run into July or August. Frankly, that’s not a huge shift from the standard season calendar, of November through June. Also, it sounds like one of many possibilities being pondered at this stage. We’ll keep you posted on updates as they happen.

More news for this Friday:

• Still optimism for full slate this season: Again, nothing has been decided, but both the ESPN report cited above and this story in the LA Times notes that there is still considerable optimism around the league the NBA could resume, play out the string of regular-season games and still play a full playoff slate. The only figure who’s publicly declared this season over is Steve Kerr, possibly in part because his Warriors have nothing to play for this season.
• Doc talks to Rams: Clippers coach Doc Rivers has been busy chatting during the shutdown, and among his latest was a chat with the Los Angeles Rams. Rivers shared anecdotes about leadership, teamwork and spent 30 minutes answering questions from players, per another story in the LA Times. One thing that would be very cool, after the shutdown ends, is if these bonds built during this time between LA teams were maintained.
• Cooking with Terance Mann: No, that’s not a euphemism, the Clippers rookie is promising a cooking video. The preview put up by the team shows he’ll be making stewed chicken, which I was not previously familiar with and so I’ll probably check it out over at the Clippers’ YouTube channel.

Today’s question: If the NBA does adopt a “biodome” approach to returning to play, what would the ideal location be for it? Remember, the point is to keep the players and essential personnel only living in a bubble, but surely some spots are better than others. Let’s chat about it in the comments below.