NBPA head losing optimism over NBA finishing its 2019-20 season?
For a piece that hit airwaves on Tuesday, National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts, Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark and National Football League Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith spoke about the states of their unions amid the coronavirus pandemic with "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel."
Of the three, Roberts seemed the most pessimistic of her players returning to action in the foreseeable future.
When asked of their confidence levels from 1-10 (10 being the most confident) that seasons would either finish or occur, Clark joked that he was an "A-minus/B-plus" student and, thus, said he was around the 7-8.5 range of confidence.
Smith came in a bit lower and said he was a "6-7" as of the final week of May.
Roberts responded:
"I'll give you a six. It was probably an eight last week. I've gotten some recent concerns expressed by players now that babies, children, have been infected (by the coronavirus). Heightened concerns have come into the conversation.
"So, I'd say a six."
Earlier this week, Roberts told ESPN "the players really want to play." With situations around the country ever-changing due to the uncontrolled virus outbreak, perhaps some in the union -- particularly on teams that were realistically out of the championship hunt when the NBA suspended play on March 11 -- are having second thoughts about returning to clubs before the start of next season.
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