The 2020-2021 NBA season is most likely to start in January 2021 if the words of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is anything to go by.
Adam made the statement on Tuesday revealing that the unusual calendar may make the U.S Men’s basketball players miss out on the summer Olympics.
Initially, the NBA was considering a December 1st date for the return of the new season, but Tuesday’s discussion by Adam on a TV show on Tuesday shows that a late December start is also unlikely while the there isn’t a confirmation or conclusion on the January 2021 date too.
“I continue to believe that we’re going to be better off getting into January, The 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 at home arenas in front of fans, but there’s still a lot that we need to learn.”
He further added: “There are a lot of great U.S. players, and we may be up against a scenario where the top 15 NBA players aren’t competing in the Olympics, but other great American players are competing, and obviously, there are many NBA players who participate in the Olympics for other countries. That’s something we’re going to have to work through.”
The NBA matches have been played behind closed doors since March 11 with the restart being held in a bubble in Orlando Florida.
Players in the bubble have been undergoing coronavirus testing weekly with a limited number of guests and a limited number of fans allowed per game.
The Conference finals have started with Denver Nuggets and LA Lakers facing each other in the Western Conference finals while Eastern Conference finals has Miami Heat facing Boston Celtics.
Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu