The NBA just did an amazing job completing a full postseason at the Disney bubble campus. Now, if next season will return to regular home NBA arenas, and include the usual constant travel around the country, and possibly having fans in attendance, then things get a lot more complicated. There is much to figure out. Here’s the New York Times on it:
Now thorny discussions loom between league officials and the players’ union to address an array of unknowns about next season. What is certain is that the players have been promised eight weeks’ notice before they have to start anew.
[NBA commissioner Adam] Silver has said he doesn’t expect the 2020-21 season to start before January. Michele Roberts, the union’s executive director, has said in multiple recent interviews that the delay may stretch into February. While there is a strong desire on both sides to see teams play in their home markets, preferably with at least a small number of fans admitted to games, it remains unclear how soon it will be safe to do so. Sports that have eschewed a bubble concept, such as the N.F.L., lurch from one coronavirus crisis to the next.
The 2020 N.B.A. draft is set for Nov. 18, and the league’s $180 million bubble allowed it to crown a champion for the 74th consecutive year while also satisfying some agreements with television partners. Yet there is much to resolve.
The league and the union must decide when to start free agency and how long they can hold out for a return to home markets before conceding that short-term regional bubbles may be necessary to play. Perhaps most crucially, they must establish a new salary cap and luxury tax amid the pinch of a $1.5 billion shortfall in projected revenue from 2019-20.
For now, basketball websites will primarily focus on what’s known: the upcoming draft, each team’s free agent situation, coaching jobs, possible trades, and other fun stuff.
