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Welcome to the unknown.
The NBA indefinitely suspended play Wednesday night after Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, known colloquially as coronavirus. With the entire Jazz team having to enter quarantine – teammate Donovan Mitchell has also reportedly tested positive -- and given Gobert’s prior contact with other NBA players, the league was left little choice from a logistical standpoint.
The incubation period for COVID-19 can last up to 14 days, so anyone who interacted with Gobert for the past two weeks is at risk for infection. There is no way to know how long he was infected before displaying symptons.
In the past two weeks, the Jazz have played the Wizards, Cavaliers, Knicks, Celtics, Pistons and Raptors. Those teams, any referees, media or personnel that interacted closely with Gobert are at risk of infection. Given the close physical contact shared by NBA players during games, which could spread the virus, continuing to play would be impossible. There’s a chance some or all of those people will have to be quarantined. The NBA made the only responsible decision it could have.
Now what?
No one knows.
Nothing like this has ever happened before. When the coronavirus impacted China, the Chinese Basketball Association suspended its season in late January. It hopes to begin playing again in early April, which means it lost two months worth of games.
The NBA is scheduled to begin its postseason April 18, which is just under 40 days from now. There’s a chance that the outbreak here will not be as severe or widespread as in China, which would require a much shorter postponement period and allow the playoffs to go on as planned.
Or the United States could mimic the exponential spread of the virus as seen in countries such as Iran and Italy. A situation like that would require a longer suspension of play. There is simply no way to know what’s going to happen, and it is completely out of the NBA’s control. The priority must be the protection of the health of its players, member clubs, personnel who work games, media members and fans.
I find it difficult to imagine that there will be a way to make up many, if any, of the canceled regular season games given the timetable in front of the league. Perhaps the NBA might allow for a few regular season games to be played before the postseason to ramp up the players after such a long time away. There’s no way to know if the teams will even be able to practice during the suspension of games. It would be impossible to simply throw them out there after such a long layoff.
The NBA has played postseasons after seasons shortened by labor stoppages before, and this would be no different than that, other than the shortened season would not be planned ahead of time. It wouldn’t be ideal, but it might be an unavoidable necessity.
The bigger question is, what would happen if the playoffs don’t start on time? Could the NBA cancel rounds? Given it would want to maximize playoff revenue after missing as many as 18 games for some teams, the league would probably prefer to truncate some of the rounds. There are a lot of days off scheduled between games, especially in the NBA’s first round, which could be eliminated.
The possibility of returning to the days of the 1990s with games on back-to-back days in the playoffs could be a reality again. For one season, the NBA could also return to a five-game first round. Perhaps, if things get really tight, the league could make those changes to the second round of the playoffs, too.
If the playoffs have to be moved back, it causes other issues. The NBA Finals are scheduled to be played from June 4-21, with the NBA draft taking place on June 25 and free agency beginning on July 1. All of those dates would have to be shifted. The arenas that could be hosting NBA Finals games could also have their venues already booked in early July.
This is something the modern NBA has never faced before. No solution is going to be perfect or make everyone happy. The NBA and everyone else is going to have to do the best they can, whatever that ends up being, and fans are going to have to accept it.
As important as all these games are to everyone who follows and works in sports, it pales in comparison to the measures that need to be taken to limit the transmission and spread of this virus. Missing games, even playoff games, is worth helping the cause of not overwhelming the medical resources of hospitals around the country.
Everyone is in this together, and sacrifices are going to have to be made. In the best-case scenario, canceling sporting events will be the biggest sacrifices people in America are going to have to make. This is the best way sports can help that scenario become a reality, and everyone should be cheering them on.