NBA Still Unconvinced About Restarting the League According to an Insider

The National Basketball Association (NBA) may not resume this season.

The NBA had suspended the league last month after Rudy Gobert was tested positive for the coronavirus. Since then, a few more cases came out, including Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant. Currently, with most sports leagues shut down around the world, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst talked about how the league is angling towards its cancellation as well.

“The talks between the players union and the league this week, I’ve talked to both sides of this issue, and it is clear that the NBA is angling to set up a deal that enables them to shut the season down,” he said.

NBA was earlier looking at a restart

Previously, the NBA was open to various scenarios that would continue the league. It included teams directly participating in the post-season, with the regular season ending where it is now. Commissioner Adam Silver also discussed a possibility of the teams playing a mini playoff for the final playoff spot.

Many analysts believed that the association is trying hard to salvage something out of the season. For that, they were also ready for the season to go on until as long as September. However, Windhorst believes that the NBA is now more concerned about the impacts that the league shutting down will have, as opposed to its resumption.

“The way they’re negotiating, they’re leaving themselves an option either way. But they’re not having talks about how to restart the league, they’re having financial talks about what would happen if the season shuts down, and I think there is a significant amount of pessimism right now,” Windhorst said.