Imagine that the NBA season failed to resume and the league resorted to the unimaginable - voting on which team gets the bragging rights as the 2020 titleholder. That could actually play out as it remains unclear when the games will be resumed. By this time, the regular season would have ended but COVID-19 has disrupted everything.
The likelihood of the league canceling the season is inching closer to reality as uncertainty remains in effect. There is no sign that things are getting better and while the Trump Administration has hinted plans to reopen the economy, the actual lifting of the stay-at-home order is still nowhere in sight.
That's because the coronavirus outbreak is yet to be controlled and truth be told, the return to normal times cannot be guaranteed anytime soon. For the NBA, this indicates that the season restart is still a remote possibility and it could mean that the halted campaign could be voided altogether.
In his newsletter, Marc Stein of The New York Times suggested that the league will likely end without a champion, which will be the first since the NBA was established. Stein said the NBA bylaws seemed silent on the subject of which team gets the title if the season is abruptly ended or canceled.
In such a scenario, it would seem that the situation is favorable to the league leaders, according to Radio.com. For the suspended season, the pick would be between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Milwaukee Bucks as they are the leading teams in the west and east sides of the competition.
However, choosing between the two would be complicated because the NBA rules appear not to sanction such a move, per the argument made by Stein.
The NBA title showdown ending up in a vote is something that the league would not dismiss without consideration. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said that operating under the circumstances in effect, all things seem feasible.
Bleacher Report said he or the league itself "is in listening mode." Essentially, the commissioner is dropping hints that whatever will work for the good of the NBA is welcome. The league is ready to listen and consider proposals.
On this, Stein seemed supportive as he maintained that "some sort of vote would be required to name a champion without a postseason."
If things will go down to a vote, the Bucks could emerge as the leading contender as before the games were stopped the team already collected 53 wins but the Lakers are not far behind with 49 victories to boast. The Clippers should be in the ballot as well for their 44 wins to date.
