Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan and his players have stepped up to provide financial assistance to part-time employees adversely affected by the suspension of the NBA schedule.
"It was the right thing to do!" Jordan told the Observer about forming a fund to compensate part-time employees who will miss paychecks as a result of canceled Hornets and Greensboro Swarm games, and other lost Spectrum Center events, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Hornets' news release said about 500 part-time employees would be eligible for assistance, such as ushers, ticket-takers, entertainers, public-safety officers, etc. The announcement did not provide an estimate how much money this fund would distribute.
Part-time employees for postponed or canceled concerts or Swarm games (at the Coliseum annex in Greensboro) would be eligible for assistance through the end of March, while those scheduled to work Hornets games would be eligible through the conclusion of the regular season April 13.
The Hornets join a number of NBA owners, players and coaches providing such assistance to part-time employees. Wednesday night, the NBA suspended the season in response to Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert testing positive for COVID-19. Since then, two other NBA players _ Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell and Detroit Pistons center Christian Wood _ have also tested positive.
The league schedule will be suspended at least a month, commissioner Adam Silver said on TNT. The Hornets had 17 games remaining in the regular season when the schedule was suspended, 10 of those at home.
It appears unlikely the NBA will complete a full 82-game regular-season schedule if the season resumes. At 23-42 _ seven games out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference _ the Hornets would have little chance of qualifying for the postseason.
