The NBA’s board of governors is scheduled to hold a conference call on Friday, during which the possible resumption of the 2019-20 NBA season will be discussed. However, as reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski via Twitter , NBA Commissioner Adam Silver revealed during a call with league GMs on Thursday that the board would not yet be voting on whether or not to return to play.
Per Wojnarowski, discussion regarding a potential plan for finishing the season is expected to continue into the weekend.
As shared previously by The Inquisitr , the NBA announced last week that it had entered into exploratory conversations with The Walt Disney Company about bringing its teams to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex to resume play in a controlled environment. This would require strict guidelines to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus and keep players, coaches, and staff safe.
The 220-acre athletic complex encompasses multiple sporting venues and is located in the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida. A number of major events have been held on the site over the years, including multiple regular-season MLB series, the NFL’s Pro Bowl Skills Showdown, a WNBA preseason tournament, and the Walt Disney World Pro Soccer Classic, which featured MLS teams.
According to The Athletic ‘s Shams Charania, the Wide World of Sports Complex is the clear frontrunner to host the NBA’s return to action.
The status of the 2019-20 NBA season has remained up in the air since March 11, when it was announced that Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert had registered the league’s first positive player test for COVID-19 infection. Shortly thereafter, the league became the first major sports organization in the U.S. to suspend play as the coronavirus crisis became a full-on pandemic.
While players and fans alike have expressed a desire to finish the campaign, some have also expressed concern about whether it’s even possible to do so safely. As it stands, the pandemic is very much ongoing, with nearly 20,000 new cases of infection in the U.S. being confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on May 28.
Meanwhile, the total number of confirmed cases is approaching 1.7 million and the national death toll has eclipsed the 100,000 mark. Even so, other leagues have joined the NBA in considering return-to-play scenarios, and states around the U.S. have begun the phased reopening of commerce and public spaces.
As reported by The Inquisitr , Dr. Anthony Fauci — head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — told CNN on Wednesday that a second wave of the virus caused by the reopening of the American economy is not an inevitability. However, he also maintained that Americans can’t let their guard down, cautioning that states that may have reopened prematurely and/or without strict adherence to social distancing policies need to be monitored carefully for a resurgence.