The NBA will decide in June if the season can be started and if the games can be played again. However, the resumption will certainly come with restrictions that will make it safe for players to play and for personnel to carry out their jobs. The key is to limit the games in one or two cities.
That appears to be the consensus among league executives and team owners, who are operating on the limitations imposed by the COVID-19 spread, which remains uncontained. Playing in one or two cities will make it easier for the league to resume business and stage the games as normal as possible.
Picking up on the report by Marc Stein of The New York Times, Sports Illustrated said the best option that is available for the NBA is to make the teams play in one or two centralized locations with Las Vegas and Orlando emerging as the preferred cities.
The NBA will refer to this host city as a "bubble city" that will serve as a form of a haven for the league while the games are being played. There were indications that Orlando is in the lead now for NBA executives as the city's Walt Disney World offers so many advantages as far safety and ease of operations are concerned.
However, Stein said Las Vegas is still in the running chiefly because of the wide choices for playing venues that the city has to offer. In case the NBA will pick Las Vegas as the host city or secondary location for the resumed games, it is understood that the MGM Resorts will be the chosen site.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league is yet to decide if all 30 teams competing for the title will be brought to the bubble city. That's because officials will need to make the call of resuming the suspended regular games or go directly to the playoffs. For the latter, only qualified teams will be summoned.
Silver said it is certain though that during the postseason, the seven-game series in each round will be in effect.
The commissioner explained that playing in bubble city or cities makes the most sense given the raging coronavirus pandemic. This aligns with the report that while Orlando now has traction as the host city for the resumption of the games, a two-city plan is still in the table, Bleacher Report said, citing the information shared by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
"There's no point in adding risk for flying all of you city to city if there's not going to be fans. We think it would be safer to be in a single location, or two locations, to start," Silver was reported as saying.
The NBA said all the details on the season restart are now being weighed in and it is estimated that a final decision on the matter will be announced by the third week of June at the earliest.
