LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida – Inside and outside the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex, there’s far less strain on the robustness of the NBA bubble experiment than the uncertainty of next NBA season. League owners are desperate for customers to return to the stands and suites for NBA game night machines to replenish lost revenue.
In private, this is a league that constantly asks Commissioner Adam Silver and his deputies: What’s next?
As the league begins to frame the possibilities, they simply tell the teams: the priority for 2020-21 is to play 82 games and do it as many times as possible with seated fans. For now, those conversations are continuous, numerous, and ever-changing.
Mostly, the NBA is trying to live in the real world, where science and data rule reality – and that has left everyone scrambling for solutions in a country without a national plan for a virus that kills a thousand Americans a day.
Is the NBA flexible on December 1st?
The NBA has told teams that the plan remains to begin on December 1, but postponing that date would require a level of confidence that a delay would ultimately result in the arenas reopening to the public.
If so, the NBA would be willing to hold back the start, perhaps even months. An opening night of Martin Luther King Jr. Day – January 18 – is a consideration. February and March are also realistic if a combination of vaccines, therapies, and rapid response tests for COVID-19 could contribute to the possibility of public gatherings.
There is hope for vaccines, but the League has prepared teams for the reality that mass distribution would be unlikely for a full year, the sources said. Even for now, there is skepticism about the reliability of quick response tests. They hope advances in technology can facilitate ways to get fans into arenas, even if that means less than capacity. Teams are already modeling options that include a few thousand fans for filled buildings closer to capacity.
What if no arena – or a few – is able to host fans in December?
In most NBA venues, mass sports matches are almost certain to be unlikely early this winter.
The NBA will consider playing in more affordable and more easily reusable training facilities for television, sources said. Another idea: what if some markets could host fans, but others not? This opened up a conversation about neutral games. NBA teams could move operations to other cities in the league – or more likely, non-NBA markets – which could allow paying customers.
For example, New York, Los Angeles and Washington may have a delay in being able to reopen. Toronto cannot be sure that Canada’s borders will reopen to parties traveling from the United States. This would require the Toronto Raptors to find a home in the United States.
So these are much less likely scenarios than the NBA starting next season where it plans to finish this summer, right?
Yes, the bubble.
This time around, ideas focus on regional sites and participation windows that would extend a month for teams, the sources said. After that, the teams would go home and train – perhaps for two weeks – and move on to the next regional bubble against a new group of teams. Orlando is a consideration and Las Vegas – a finalist for this summer’s reboot – would also re-emerge as a possible site, the sources said.
This is one of the ideas, a way to buy time before fans can return to the arenas. NBPA Executive Director Michele Roberts is on the register with ESPN’s Tim Bontemps as a proponent of the idea – if the country is baffled by the virus: “If tomorrow looks like today, and today we all recognize it – and that’s not Michele talking. , this is the league, along with the ANP and our respective experts saying, “This is the way to do it,” so this will have to be the way to do it, “he told ESPN.
Why a start date on December 1st for the 2020-21 season?
Christmas Day games are crucial to the NBA on many levels, but the NBA needs a window to play 82 games, complete the playoffs, and still give its players the chance to participate in the 2021 Tokyo Games at July.
These are noble intentions, but within the league there is growing skepticism about how long hosting the Olympics can remain a priority.
For now, here’s an idea on the league board, sources said: If the NBA believes it can significantly delay the start of the season to buy time to get fans back into the arenas, they’ve thought about the idea of a ‘ One month Olympics. break that recalls how the NHL handled the Winter Olympics.
As the pandemic rages on, there is less optimism about elite players participating in the Olympics, including Americans and international stars. The NBA and NBPA will take a stance that the Games are important, but the Olympics are barely a priority for owners, especially when they don’t share the television revenue that comes with the inclusion of league superstars. Organizations see the wear and tear of the players they have invested hundreds of millions of dollars with. In the midst of a pandemic, the Olympics mean even less to owners, team managers and the NBPA.
At a minimum, Team USA will likely need to be ready to bring a much younger and less experienced roster to Tokyo, a team profile that could ultimately mirror the rest of the world registrations as well.
Were those teams chasing the Western Conference play-in tournament thrilled with the Utah Jazz’s decision to sit four starters with injuries and rest center Rudy Gobert in a defeat to the San Antonio Spurs?
Among the teams trying to capture the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth seed, they were somewhere between chagrin and bruise, the sources said.
The Jazz broke nothing of the championship rest rules with Gobert and adequately documented injuries to four other starters, but the optics of the five starters sitting in an eminently winable match against Spurs was tough.
Memphis, the Portland Trail Blazers and the Phoenix Suns are on the hunt for eighth seed and play-in, and that was a crucial win for San Antonio, who is now one game behind Portland for ninth place – and half game ahead of Phoenix.
Additionally, the Jazz will play Spurs in their eighth and final seeding match on Thursday, and it’s not hard to imagine that Utah – with their possibly set playoff position – might be less inclined to risk injury to their key players in this game. also.
This is the kind of trouble that occurs in the last days of any NBA regular season. It all ends differently in the reboot format, especially with teams that came to Florida with the intention of getting a fair shot for the playoffs.
More and more, teams will start letting players rest along the stretch and that could have a dramatic impact on those teams competing to enter the playoffs.
The NBA has warned teams to preserve the integrity of this exercise, but there are limits on how far they can go in the application.
Is the Orlando bubble a possible destination for the eight teams left out of the reboot to perform off-season training retreats once the first group of 22 teams is eliminated?
The NBPA has no interest in this idea, the sources said. It is a non-starter. The inevitable solution for the eight teams left out of Orlando: NBA and NBPA agree on voluntary training in team facilities, sources said.
The NBPA will not accept mandatory reporting for players of the eight teams outside of the reboot, but will eventually allow it on a voluntary basis, the sources said. Many of the teams are frustrated and angry at how much they feel they are falling behind the teams in the bubble, and are expressing it aggressively to the league office.
“We’re looking at nine months between games now, and if the season is late, we’re looking at maybe a full year between competitive games,” a GM told ESPN on Friday. “This is unprecedented in the history of the sport. We deserve help here.”
Does Jacque Vaughn have a chance to keep his job as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets?
Brooklyn is planning to begin a search once the team is eliminated in Orlando, with Vaughn assured that he will receive significant consideration for keeping the job. It would have been easier to evaluate Vaughn for work with his two superstars – Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving – participating in the reboot, or even some of the missing Nets starters, but he made a good case at GM Sean Marks.
How about Alvin Gentry and the New Orleans Pelicans?
Executive Vice President David Griffin and the Pelicans estate have a decision to make with one year left on Gentry’s contract, sources said. Consider two relationships Griffin has in his front office days in Cleveland and Phoenix, respectively, if there’s a change in New Orleans: LA Clippers assistant Ty Lue and Los Angeles Lakers assistant Jason Kidd, said the sources.
Where are the Chicago Bulls about Jim Boylen’s future?
Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley are spending time evaluating and getting to know Boylen and are in no hurry to decide on the manager’s future. They can watch him in the gym with the players, talk about philosophy and get to know his staff.
As several potential head coaching candidates in the assistant survey are coaching for the foreseeable future, there is even less rush to open a research process now.
Did the NBA and NBPA progress in the 2020-21 salary cap talks?
Front offices and agents are desperate for where the salary cap for next season will come, but those talks have yet to begin between the NBA and NBPA, sources said. The league’s basketball-related revenue (BRI) audit is still ongoing and numbers are needed on the revenue sharing between the parties before negotiations can begin. It will probably arrive later in the month.
The heaviest heart in the bubble on Friday?
It belonged to Toronto basketball operations president Masai Ujiri for the death of Nigerian 7-footer Michael Ojo in Serbia. Ojo came to America on a university scholarship due to his appearance in the camps of the African giants of Ujiri in 2010 and 2011.
“What a person,” Ujiri said. “What a gentle giant.”
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