NBA Boss Adam Silver Eyes January Start To Next Season

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver thinks the league is likely headed for a January start in 2021, but that pandemic-delayed season could drag into the following summer and prevent league players from competing in the Tokyo Olympics.   
Similarly, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said on Saturday that he envisioned his league starting the next campaign in late December or January, but that will not have any impact on the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. 
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'I continue to believe that we're going to be better off getting into January,' Silver said in a discussion with Bob Costas during part of the 'Citizen by CNN' event. 
'The goal for us next season is to play a standard season ... an 82-game season and playoffs. And further, the goal would be to play games in home arenas in front of fans, but there's still a lot that we need to learn.'
The NBA hasn't played in arenas filled with fans since March 11, when the league suspended its season because of the coronavirus pandemic. A very small number of fans - maybe 30 or 40 per game - have been allowed to watch inside the NBA's restart bubble at Walt Disney World in recent weeks, all of them family members or close friends of players. Those guests all are tested daily for coronavirus, like everyone else in the bubble.
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A typical NBA season has a regular season that lasts for nearly six months, followed by about a two-month postseason. If next season is typical - and there's no way of knowing that it will be, or even could be - a January start could mean a June or July regular-season finish, with playoffs concluding in August or September.
That could greatly affect Olympic plans.
The rescheduled Tokyo Olympics are set to begin July 23 and run through August 8 - if those games are held. Final qualifying rounds for the 24 teams still bidding for the four remaining spots in the 12-team men's basketball field would begin in June.
LeBron James celebrates with Anthony Davis after the latter hit a game-winning three-pointer in Game 2 of the Lakers' Western Conference Finals series against the Nuggets 
The United States Men's Basketball team celebrates with their gold medals following the Men's Gold medal game on Day 16 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Carioca Arena 1 in 2016
'There are a lot of great US players, and we may be up against a scenario where the top 15 NBA players aren't competing in the Olympics, but other great American players are competing,' Silver said. 'And, obviously, there are many NBA players who participate in the Olympics for other countries. That's something we're going to have to work through.'
Team USA Coach Gregg Popovich (right) and assistant Steve Kerr (left) could be forced to skip the Olympics if their respective NBA teams, the Spurs and Warriors, are still playing deep into the 2021 postseason 
USA Basketball has been planning for various possible scenarios in recent months but can't make any concrete plans until it sees what the next NBA schedule officially looks like. The U.S. roster for the Tokyo Olympics will be 12 players; there were another 34 players competing for other countries at the Rio Olympics as well.
Several NBA coaches are also planning to coach in the Tokyo Olympics or in qualifying: San Antonio's Gregg Popovich will coach USA Basketball and be assisted by Golden State's Steve Kerr and Atlanta's Lloyd Pierce; Golden State associate head coach Mike Brown is set to coach Nigeria; Toronto assistant Sergio Scariolo will coach Spain and Raptors head coach Nick Nurse will lead Canada in qualifying and then the Olympics should it qualify.
'These are highly unique and unusual circumstances,' Silver said. 'And I think just as it is for the Olympic movement, it is for us as well. And we're just going to have to sort of find a way to meld and mesh those two competing considerations.'
The US, Nigeria, Australia, Spain, Argentina, Iran, France and host Japan have qualified for the Olympic men's basketball field already. Among the top international teams still hoping to qualify: Greece (which could have two-time reigning NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo), Serbia (led by Denver's All-NBA center Nikola Jokic), Lithuania, Russia and the Czech Republic.
On Saturday, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman (pictured) raised the possibility of a start sometime later in December or even January, though the plan remains for each team to play 82 games and the league hold a full playoffs
The NHL is facing similar issues moving from one pandemic-delayed season to the next, but isn't constrained by any Olympic consideration. 
On Saturday, Bettman raised the possibility of a start sometime later in December or even January, though the plan remains for each team to play 82 games and the league hold a full playoffs.
A general overview is seen of Jamie Benn of the Dallas Stars and Brayden Point of the Tampa Bay Lightning taking a face-off in the Stars zone during the second period of Game Two of the NHL Stanley Cup Final between the Dallas Stars and kynghidongduong.vn the Tampa Bay Lightning at Rogers Place on Monday
Much like its plan to resume this season, tour phượng hoàng cổ trấn the league hopes to adapt to the pandemic circumstances in the US, Canada and worldwide and is open to adjusting on the fly as the situation evolves. Acknowledging there are factors like the US-Canada border and local jurisdictions out of his control that could affect travel and attendance, Bettman indicated Saturday he wouldn't be surprised if the season begins later than scheduled but would like to avoid playing deep into next summer.
'If there's an option to consider, believe me, we're considering it,' Bettman said during his annual pre-Stanley Cup Final news conference. 'It's conceivable that we start without fans, that we move to socially distant fans at some point and by some point in time maybe our buildings are open.'
There's no way to know yet what a 2020-21 NHL season will look like, and the league is watching what's going on in European hockey and the other North American professional sports leagues and college athletics to see what's possible.
'Our goal is to get back to as great a sense of normalcy as possible under whatever circumstances are presented,' Bettman said.
One of the circumstances at play is the closure of the U.S.-Canada border to nonessential travel, which has more of an effect on the NHL than other pro sports leagues because it has seven teams in Canada and 24 in the U.S. until Seattle becomes the 32nd franchise in 2021.
A general view is seen of the ice surface before the start of the third period of Game Two of the NHL Stanley Cup Final between the Stars and the Lightning at Rogers Place on Monday
Canada did not allow Major League Baseball's Blue Jays to play in Toronto this season because of cross-border travel by them and other teams. The Canadian government approved the NHL holding its playoffs in quarantined bubbles in Toronto and Edmonton but has not allowed family members who aren't Canadian citizens join, as had been planned by the league and players.
Stars Goaltender Anton Khudobin stops Lighting forward Patrick Maroon on Monday
'That application remains pending,' deputy commissioner Bill Daly said. 'I think at this point, I don't have a high level of expectation that it will be approved. But it has not formally been denied at this point, either.'
The league is less than two weeks away from pulling off a successful return, after the season was halted March 12. More than 30,000 tests inside the bubbles turned up zero positive coronavirus test results.
Before the Dallas Stars and Tampa Bay Lightning opened the final, Bettman acknowledged he's not taking a victory lap yet. He's still focused on getting through this series even as preparations begin for next season.
Bettman said the league has 'started informally thinking' about it and conceded there will be a financial hit because attendance makes up at least 50% of revenue. He's not worried about any franchises not making it through this and said Seattle joining the league won't be pushed back.
'While we know it'll be less (money), we know there's a substantial revenue impact, I'm comfortable that our franchises will be strong enough to weather this,' Bettman said. 'Our franchises will get through this and will come out stronger on the other side.'
The NHL is facing similar issues moving from one pandemic-delayed season to the next, but isn't constrained by Olympic considerations. The next Winter Games will be in Beijing in 2022




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