NBA commissioner Adam Silver says the league has no plans to pause the season amid rising COVID numbers in Canada and the US. Per Silver, there are “No plans right now to pause the season…We’ve of course looked at all the options, but frankly we’re having trouble coming up with what the logic would be behind pausing right now.”
The association’s stance starkly contrasts that of the NHL who recently not only paused the season, but also opted out of the upcoming Beijing Olympics. While there are multiple factors at play with the NHL, primarily the existence of 7 Canadian franchises as opposed to only 1 NBA team in Canada, the comments raised a few eyebrows given the league’s usually forward thinking and progressive policies.
In a statement posted to NBA.com, Silver doubled down on the sentiment saying “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.”
As of Tuesday, the NBA has had to postpone 7 games due to COVID, with 103 players entering the protocol this month, 65 of which have come in the last week alone. On the NHL side of things, the league has already postponed 50 games forcing them to use the Olympic break as a means to catch up on missed matchups.
According to league officials, 97% of NBA players are currently vaccinated, with 65% of players having already received their booster shot. However that hasn’t prevented multiple high profile players from missing time due to COVID, with numbers trending in the wrong direction. So much so that the league and players association recently modified rules surrounding players in protocol.
Teams can now sign one replacement player for every rostered player who tests positive, while players on two way contracts will no longer have a cap on the number of games they can play this season. These changes have caused a spike in former players suddenly vying for roster spots including Isaiah Thomas, and Lance Stephenson who were both recently signed to NBA deals.
While the about face on COVID & player safety are quite the changes from the 2020 stance the league had regarding the pandemic, Silver’s views mirror those of a growing number of Americans. As the world prepares to enter year 3 of the pandemic in 2022, there’s a sense of malaise regarding the seemingly never ending nature of the virus. And while there’s arguments to be made for both approaches, it will be interesting to see what other leagues do when faced with similar decisions. Will they follow the lead of the NHL, or that of the NBA?