Utah Jazz guard Mike Conley optimistic the 2020 NBA playoffs will be played
SALT LAKE CITY — The 2020 NBA playoffs were supposed to start Saturday.
As it stands, we remain without games and with no determined end in sight to the indefinite hiatus and suspension of the NBA season due to COVID-19. But many, including Utah Jazz guard Mike Conley, remain optimistic that a 2020 champion will be crowned despite the formidable unknown road that lies ahead.
On Friday, Conley spoke to local reporters via video conference and discussed what life has been like since the league shut down following Rudy Gobert’s coronavirus diagnosis. He said he continues to feel as though the league will find a way to resume play.
“I think that more and more every meeting we have, and we’ve had calls with (NBA players association) and NBA ... it makes it feel as if a plan is slowly coming into place and we are having our head in the right direction,” he said. “Just feeling really good. Even from just rumors or talks we’re having, it seems mostly positive and that it could happen.”
Rumors that Conley is referring to include ideas that the NBA could resume games in arenas without fans, or possibly play in an isolated location where teams and personnel would have no contact with anyone outside a theoretical bubble until things are deemed safe.
These different ideas that are being discussed will likely force schedule changes for the NBA for both the summer, fall and into the next season, but no matter the situation, Conley says players are willing to do whatever it takes to get back on the court, as long as safety remains the top priority.
“At this point, safety is first for everybody and we want to continue to adhere to all the regulations,” he said. “I think we’re all ready and willing to do it, and if that means we’re going to be in one location for an extended period of time or isolated just amongst our teams or a certain few teams, I think we’re willing and ready to do that.”
The myriad ideas and scenarios that are being talked about as a way to possibly bring sports back to a functioning level are not scenarios that are logistically being planned for by the NBA, at least not yet.
Later on Friday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver spoke to reporters and said that while all remain hopeful, the league is not anywhere near a planning stage because of all the unknown variables that still remain.
“In terms of bubble-like concepts, many of them have been proposed to us, and we’ve only listened,” Silver said. “We’re not seriously engaged yet in that type of environment.”
Silver stressed the need for widespread testing for the coronavirus, data on vaccines and antivirals and the importance of continuing to not overwhelm the health care system and its workers. Even if things begin to seem like the worst is teetering off and that there is some light at the end of the tunnel in terms of relief from the virus, there will still be federal and state regulations that will need to be met, and Silver said the lack of data and information available means the NBA will continue to wait until there is a more clear path for the league.
“We are not in a position to make any decisions,” he said. “And it’s unclear when we will be.”
Even with all of the unknowns and the likelihood that the remainder of the 2019-20 regular season will be lost, Conley said that the hope for players is that there will be some form of the 2020 playoffs that can be played at some point.
“That’s the hope,” Conley said. “I think all of us seek that, I think the league wants that, our fans, communities really want that to be able to happen. All of us are just staying as optimistic as possible. Nobody is throwing in the towel or going on vacation thinking this is it and that maybe we’ll play again next season.”
As far as what that would look like from a training and physical standpoint, Conley is unsure. Not only is every team and player different, but basketball players have never had to go from complete isolation for months at a time to preparing for the highest level of competition.
“I don’t think anyone has had to do that in the past where you went from doing nothing to a training camp straight to competing for a championship within weeks,” Conley said. “It’s going to be interesting for sure.”
In order to try to make some version of the postseason possible, Silver said that all ideas are on the table, even the possibility of delaying the 2020-21 regular season.
Even with all the ideas and possibilities being considered, the NBA is at a standstill and Silver said that the league will continue to wait until it has the necessary information to work from.
Until then, it’s the hope of the players and fans, who are the most concrete driving force for games to resume. As they say, if there’s a will, there’s a way.