Nearly two months ago, the NBA abruptly shuttered itself when Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Now, with sports organizations beginning to determine how to open up, one retired superstar and current TV commentator is ready to call the rest of the pro basketball season off.
“I think we should scrap the season. Everybody go home, get healthy, come back next year,” Shaquille O’Neal told USA Today. “Just scrap the season. Just scrap it. To try and come back now and do a rush playoffs as a player? Any team that wins this year, there’s an asterisk. They’re not going to get the respect.
“What if a team that’s not really in the mix of things all of a sudden wins with a new playoff format? Nobody is going to respect that. So scrap it. Worry about the safety of the fans and the people. Come back next year.”
On Friday, the Cleveland Cavaliers and Portland Trail Blazers became the first teams to allow players to use their facilities for individual workouts in accordance with loosening stay-at-home restrictions in Ohio and Oregon. But on a conference call the same day, Commissioner Adam Silver told players that a decision on resuming the season still could be more than a month away, multiple people with knowledge of the call told The Washington Post. There remains no clarity on a timeline for returning to play.
Like other leagues, the NBA is considering whether to resume the season by playing without fans. O’Neal said he isn’t fond of the idea of playing in nearly empty arenas.
“It matters because looking at the fans starts your adrenaline,” said the Hall of Famer, who’s now an NBA commentator for Turner Sports. “Let’s just say I’m playing on the road. I need to look at that one fan that’s making faces at me. I need to look at that one fan that laughs at me when I miss a free throw. I need to look at that one fan that’s holding up the opposing sign. I also need to look at the kid that looks at his dad when I look at him and says, ‘Oh, my God, Shaq just looked at me.’ They make us who we are.
“And then, you have to say, okay. We’re going to play in an arena with just us, trainers, the camera guys and the media guys. What if one person gets sick and there’s nobody? All it takes is one person. After the game, you’ve still got to go home. What if one person gets sick? Then we start from zero again.”
The NBA found out just how quickly things can change when Gobert tested positive March 11, with news that his teammate, Donovan Mitchell, also tested positive. Both have recovered. At the time, the NBA moved to take steps to ensure the health of players who recently had come into contact with Gobert. Teams the Jazz had played in the previous 10 days were urged to self-quarantine, and a number of players, including Kevin Durant, tested positive.
Just days before he tested positive, Gobert joked about the virus during a news conference, teasingly touching all of the microphones and recording devices that reporters had placed on a table before him. Gobert apologized after testing positive and, in an Instagram Live video, said his relationship with Mitchell was on the mend.
