Related News
Home 禄 Sports 禄 Basketball
Silver sees NBA season clashing with Olympics
Print Edition
National Basketball Association Commissioner Adam Silver said on Tuesday that his 鈥渂est guess鈥 is that next season will not start until at least January, plus acknowledged that the later-than-usual schedule could mean top US men鈥檚 players miss next summer鈥檚 Tokyo Olympics.
Silver, a guest in a series of panel discussions on CNN, did not indicate that any decisions are finalized. The league was originally hoping for a December 1 start to next season, then shifted to a late December start, and now the target has apparently moved again.
鈥淚 continue to believe that we鈥檙e going to be better off getting into January,鈥 Silver said in a discussion with Bob Costas during part of the 鈥楥itizen by CNN,鈥 event. 鈥淭he goal for us next season is to play a standard season ... an 82-game season and playoffs. And further, the goal would be to play games in home arenas in front of fans, but there鈥檚 still a lot that we need to learn.鈥
The NBA hasn鈥檛 played in arenas filled with fans since March 11, when the league suspended its season because of the coronavirus pandemic. A very small number of fans 鈥 maybe 30 or 40 per game 鈥 have been allowed to watch inside the NBA鈥檚 restart bubble at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, in recent weeks, all of them family members or close friends of players. Those guests all are tested daily for coronavirus, like everyone else in the bubble.
A typical NBA season has a regular season that lasts for nearly six months, followed by about a two-month postseason. If next season is typical 鈥 and there鈥檚 no way of knowing that it will be 鈥 a January start could mean a June or July regular-season finish, with playoffs concluding in August or September.
That could greatly affect Olympic plans.
The rescheduled Tokyo Olympics are set to begin July 23 and run through August 8 鈥 if those games are held. Final qualifying rounds for the 24 teams still bidding for the four remaining spots in the 12-team men鈥檚 basketball field would begin in June.
鈥淭here are a lot of great US players, and we may be up against a scenario where the top 15 NBA players aren鈥檛 competing in the Olympics, but other great American players are competing,鈥 Silver said. 鈥淎nd, obviously, there are many NBA players who participate in the Olympics for other countries. That鈥檚 something we鈥檙e going to have to work through.鈥
USA Basketball has been planning for various possible scenarios in recent months but can鈥檛 make any concrete plans until it sees what the next NBA schedule officially looks like.
The US roster for the Tokyo Olympics will be 12 players; there were another 34 players competing for other countries at the Rio Olympics as well.
Several NBA coaches are also planning to coach at the Tokyo Olympics or in qualifying: San Antonio鈥檚 Gregg Popovich will coach USA Basketball and be assisted by Golden State鈥檚 Steve Kerr and Atlanta鈥檚 Lloyd Pierce; Golden State associate head coach Mike Brown is set to coach Nigeria; Toronto assistant Sergio Scariolo will coach Spain and Raptors head coach Nick Nurse will lead Canada in qualifying and then the Olympics should it qualify.
鈥淭hese are highly unique and unusual circumstances,鈥 Silver said. 鈥淎nd I think just as it is for the Olympic movement, it is for us as well. And we鈥檙e just going to have to sort of find a way to meld and mesh those two competing considerations.鈥
The United States, Nigeria, Australia, Spain, Argentina, Iran, France and host Japan have qualified for the Olympics already. Among the top teams still hoping to qualify: Greece (which could have two-time reigning NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo), Serbia (led by Denver鈥檚 All-NBA center Nikola Jokic), Lithuania, Russia and the Czech Republic.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
