On Friday, when it was reported that there was”a substantial amount of pessimism right now” in league circles that the NBA will be back this season, Lakers forward Jared Dudley pushed back on that a little, begging that”everybody would like to salvage as far as we can if potential.”
At a Q and A with Michael Lee of the Athletic, Dudley started to walk that back a bit, and since I have written enough about why I do not think the season returning is extraordinarily likely, I thought it might be worthwhile to include why one present Laker is Beginning to feel the same way:
As I talk to you, is there going to be a year?
Hey, it is for sure, it is a lot of money involved.
They will find a way in June and July.” However, when you look at it, you are like,”How can you play games at the moment, once the death toll.
Just seven groups got analyzed, less than 15 percent.
And you are going to have a year, where each player will need to get tested before we play again? So you’ve got at least a million people getting tested, and it is going to need to be more than 1 time.
Therefore, you’re going to need thousands of tests on hand in order to have (a resumption of the season), and are going to be able to, as a society, that last part is a hang up, both ethically and practically.
Can the NBA actually be able to a) get enough evaluations and b) not be wildly, societally reckless by doing this? Just as we’d all love basketball all that sounds, charitably, improbable.
Dudley agrees, and enlarged even more upon that notion — it is not just players, coaches and team the NBA would need to Check and isolate, even if they holed up in a neutral place like Las Vegas — in his conversation with Lee:
But , the question is, are we going to become a society by June, July, we have sufficient testing for security, hotel staff, cleaning team?
And now they can not leave, because if they go home… that they need to remain on site for 60 days, possibly 90. And that is where I get to the point, are we going to arrive.
You’ve got to be able to July 1, begin the season, possibly July 15 to have the season, not affect it. Fauci, it is likely to get worse before it gets better.
Are you (reporters) not likely to have the ability to cover it in the arena? But if something mad does not happen, I just don’t see it.
All those are really valid points, as well as the fact that if, despite all of those precautions, a player tested positive anyhow the league would need to shut down, the remainder risk-reward trade off just doesn’t appear to be there, particularly when considering that this type of tournament may not actually lead to the best team winning because of the randomness and lack of prep time such a situation would cause, and that fans probably would not even have to be in attendance (taking away a source of additional revenue and motivation to play these games).
There’s also the thing that not every participant or owner in the league — such as people with nothing to play — will need to sign off delaying free agency or the beginning of next season to take part in all this, just to name two potential other motivating factors which will stick to this lengthy stoppage.
