The NBA is looking to proceed with the draft and free agency as scheduled this coming June, even if there are no concrete plans of finishing the 2019-2020 season. The 2020 draft was initially scheduled to take place on June 25.

It would mean that player contracts due this year would end by June 30. At the moment, the NBA has made no official announcement on how they plan to finish the 2019-2020 season and crown a champion. The game suspension, like the stay-at-home policy in most US states, is still being evaluated as the coronavirus pandemic develops nationwide.

There are discussions on having a centralized location for all the games to complete the season. However, at the moment, they are all plans. No official announcement is expected until all teams are tested for the coronavirus and declared clean. At least 14 players, a team owner, and a few staff members were confirmed to have the virus. A significant number of them have already recovered, including Rudy Gobert, the NBA's patient zero.

According to RealGM.com, If the games do resume by mid-April, even at a reduced schedule, it would take a couple of months to complete the post-season and crown a champion. It would mean that players with contracts ending this season, but playing for championship contender teams would need to stay with their teams until they are eliminated from the competition or a champion is crowned.

At the moment, things are getting worse for the league. Apart from the coronavirus situation not showing any signs of a downturn that would get things back to normal, the suspension also created a dispute between teams and players regarding their salaries. Teams are losing millions due to the suspension, while players with their multi-million dollar contracts are still receiving their paychecks. The league started arbitration last week by offering a 50% pay cut on player salaries that would begin at the next regularly scheduled payday on April 15th.

The Players Union countered with their own proposal. We can expect an updated Collective Bargaining Agreement sometime in the future, as the season cannot resume without it.

As it stands, the NBA is now considering canceling the 2019-2020 season altogether and starting anew with the scheduled 2020 draft for the 2020-2021 season on June 25th.

Dr. Anthony Fauci
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, believes NBA games should be played without fans to limit risk of exposure to the new coronavirus. Photo: GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Drew Angerer
COVID-19