NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has disclosed to the team general managers that the organization is running out of time to commence the league in December. The league and the players union are yet to arrive at a conclusion regarding the start with the players reportedly preferring for the league to start in January.Â
According to ESPN, the NBA held a conference call with the general managers to deliver the latest updates regarding the 2020-21 season’s schedule.
NBA had initially planned to start the season before Christmas with the slated date being December 22. An earlier report in October claimed that an eight-week notice would be issued before the start of the new campaign.
The players are said to be strongly against the idea of starting the season in late December as they prefer a January start.
“Our players deserve the right to have some runway so that they can plan for a start that soon,”
“The overwhelming response from the players that I have received to this proposal has been negative.” National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) executive director Michele Roberts said
NBA, on the other hand, are exploring the possibility of a free agency period after the culmination of the draft on November 18, and aim to begin training by December 1.
NBA’s drive to start powered by loss endured during pandemic
The organization reported a loss nearing $1.5 billion due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It forced the NBA to shift camp to Orlando to resume the then ongoing season and additional losses involved the revenue generated by the stadiums and revenue streams.
With the league and players union constantly in touch and negotiating, several amendments to the current collective bargaining agreement will be brought up before the commencement of the 2020-21 NBA season.
The league saw a halt to its proceedings from March 11 due to the ever-growing coronavirus pandemic. The regular season was resumed within the bubble on July 30 and was wrapped up for the playoffs to begin.
NBA Playoffs began on August 17, while the Finals began on September 30 where the Los Angeles Lakers ended a ten-year drought after wrapping up the series in Game 6 against the Miami Heats.
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