Participants on a Tuesday Board of Governors call with NBA commissioner Adam Silver left the virtual meeting increasingly positive about the league’s momentum toward a resumption of play this season, sources told ESPN.
Owners and executives on the call were encouraged about the league’s progress toward minimizing health risk upon a return and the league office’s positive conversations with the National Basketball Players Association about the players’ desire to eventually restart the season, sources said.
Discussions centered on health and safety concerns in a return, including the goal of getting team officials and players comfortable with the idea that a positive test for the coronavirus upon a return would not shutter play.
Silver told those on the call that if a positive test would “shut us down, we probably shouldn’t go down this path.”
How many positive tests would be too many remains a question, and is one of many that the NBA, NBPA and medical experts have to come to terms with in the coming weeks before the league and union can greenlight a resumption of play.
As for the format in a return to play, there still is no decision on how the kind of form that would take with the 30 NBA teams, sources said. The league hasn’t worked through the details on whether all 30 teams would return, or regular season games would be played, or perhaps a play-in tournament to give more teams a chance to make the 16-team playoff field, sources said.