We were finally blessed with some good news on Tuesday afternoon regarding the NBA, the Sacramento Kings, and the current hiatus.
Tuesday might have been the most promising day for the NBA and the Sacramento Kings in the last two months.
It seems as though there is some action going on behind the scenes, and that progress is being made in formulating a plan to get players back on the court. It has been over two months since the last day of NBA action due to the COVID-19 outbreak, by far the longest complete sports hiatus in history. Good news finally began to trickle out from some of the NBA’s most reputable sources on Tuesday afternoon.
Around 5:30 PM PT, Shams Charania of The Athletic posted a tweet in response to one of his earlier statements about a potential conference call between some of the league’s elite:
Sources: The NBPA has sent a memo to agents stating sense is players and NBA both want to finish the 2019-20 season -- and informed reps of the players listed below serving on new committee working with the league on potential plans. https://t.co/fKC0hFiE1M
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 13, 2020
It seems as though the call went well, given the news that came out about four hours after the initial report. According to Charania, the NBA Players Association “senses” that they and the NBA both want to move forward and finish the season. This is good news for those itching for some hoops, given that there was some resistance from players regarding the issue within the last couple of weeks.
But as Brian Windhorst pointed out in his interview on SportsCenter, players are beginning to lose big money on their paychecks, and the hiatus from money won’t last long. Financial ramifications are likely to make the players push harder for action, for better or for worse.
Less than an hour after Charania’s tweet, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski made a positive announcement of his own.
ESPN Sources: Attendees left Board of Governors call w/ Adam Silver today feeling positive about momentum toward an NBA return to play this season. Discussion included how league/players will need to get comfortable w/ some positive tests for virus not shutting down a resumption
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 13, 2020
Now, we are not sure if the “Board of Governors” that Woj refers to is the same group of players that Charania mentioned, but the situations sound similar. Whoever is on said board seems to believe that there is “positive momentum” on the situation.
Woj continued his barrage of explanatory tweets by giving us information about the preliminary thoughts of what a resumed season might look like. There were words like “bubble” and “campus environment” included, which confirms what we already knew about the NBA looking completely different upon return.
These stories came on the heels of confirmation from NBCSports California’s James Ham regarding the presence of Kings players at the team facility on Monday:
A handful of Kings players made it out to the practice facility on Monday for voluntary workouts. Everything “went smoothly” under new guidelines according to league source. pic.twitter.com/PbVEeW71MF
— James Ham (@James_HamNBA) May 12, 2020
While all of this is exciting and a light in a dark, never ending tunnel, we must remember that we are only scratching the surface for a return. We are not two weeks from basketball, or even a month. Multiple reports from yesterday stated that commissioner Adam Silver is “2-4 weeks away from making a decision”.
On top of that time frame, the NBA has already said that teams will need a 20-25 day “training camp” period to get teams back in to shape and ready to play.
If everything goes as perfectly planned based on today’s news, then we could potentially see a return to action as early as late-July.
For the latest updates on the NBA and the Sacramento Kings, stay tuned to A Royal Pain.