What to know before Friday’s NBA board of governors meeting
A plan to resume the season isn't expected to be reached by Friday, but the meeting is considered critical as the NBA prepares to return to action.
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The NBA will hold discussions on a comeback plan for this season during a board of governors meeting. Friday.
While this is considered a key meeting, the NBA is unlikely to announce a decision Friday as to how it will resume its suspended season, a league source said.
On Thursday, Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry told CNBC that the NBA could reach a decision about resuming the season by next week.
Later on Thursday, ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski said that NBA commissioner Adam Silver confirmed that Friday’s meeting wouldn’t include a formal vote on a return-to-play plan. He mentioned that talks plan to continue into the weekend.
Also on Thursday, the NBA met with the league’s 30 general managers, who had been sent a survey on how to resume the season. The GMs have been convening weekly among themselves.
The National Basketball Players Association would have to approve any plan the owners present.
The NBA source said that the owners and the union have maintained a strong working relationship in discussing a return.
According to published reports, there are several possibilities to resume the season, likely at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando.
One proposal, according to ESPN, is having a setup such as the World Cup, in which 20 teams would be in the playoffs, in four groups of five teams each. Teams would play each other in their group twice (eight total games) and the highest seeds would advance to what would be the quarterfinals.
There is still the possibility that the regular season could resume in some form. The NBA has many options, including starting the playoffs immediately with the top 16 teams facing off. Everything is apparently on the table.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has repeatedly said there is no timetable for a return as the league continues to deal with all the issues it must address in order to restart. But teams are reportedly expecting the league office to issue guidelines around June 1. The season was suspended March 11.
On Wednesday the 76ers opened their practice facility in Camden for individual, voluntary workouts. That came a day after New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced that all professional sports teams in the state could return to training and competition “if their leagues choose to move in that direction” amid the COVID-19 pandemic.