As the NBA tries, like many other businesses and sports leagues around the world about how to move forward during a global pandemic, NBA commissioner Adam Silver and the rest of the NBA’s top decision-makers are looking for ways to salvage the NBA season and still crown a 2020 NBA Champion, even if that means playing games in one central location where all teams would be both living and playing, not unlike what we see during the NBA Summer League.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst looked to China as they are looking to restart the Chinese Basketball Association in a couple of weeks time, while also noting that NBA owners are considering playing games at a central location in Las Vegas, the Bahamas, or even a college campus that has been closed in the Midwest, due to their lower numbers of coronavirus.
Various ideas have been floated by players and executives. One is to consider using a sprawling casino property in Las Vegas, where everything could be held under one roof. Others have suggested playing in the Bahamas, where a ballroom could be converted into a playing court specifically for broadcast. There has even been talk of taking over a college campus in the Midwest, where reported cases of COVID-19 are lower for the moment.
Ice Cube’s Big 3 league has floated a similar idea, although a more extreme one of having all the players live in a house in a Big Brother-style reality show. LeBron James has admittedly had trouble coming to terms with the idea of playing games without fans. But as the world tries to figure out a way to move forward during the global pandemic, it looks like playing games without fans in a neutral location is a reality that James will have to wrap his head around.
