The NBA has seen a new COVID-19 surge rip through the league, but there are no plans to pause the season.
Numerous players around the league are in the NBA’s health and safety protocol and teams can sign replacement players to add depth if necessary.
The Los Angeles Lakers are among the teams experiencing an outbreak. At one point, seven players were in the protocol, not counting head coach Frank Vogel and assistant coach Phil Handy.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver explained why the league will not pause (h/t: ESPN):
“No plans right now to pause the season,” Silver said in an interview on NBA Today on Tuesday afternoon. “We have of course looked at all the options, but frankly we are having trouble coming up with what the logic would be behind pausing right now.
“As we look through these cases literally ripping through the country, let alone the rest of the world, I think we’re finding ourselves where we sort of knew we were going to get to over the past several months, and that is this virus will not be eradicated, and we’re going to have to learn to live with it. I think that’s what we’re experiencing in the league right now.”
Silver added the omicron variant is the beyond dominant strain in positive cases and the league is finding success with implementing booster shots.
Silver said there aren’t many alternatives to the situation the league is in.
“I think there’s a recognition that these are the cards that we’ve been dealt,” Silver said. “Of course there’s an amount of unfairness that comes with playing in certain cases with some teams where particular players are out because of COVID protocols, but the other advantage is we do have an 82-game season and we do have a long playoffs, and my sense is things will work out by the end of the season.”
