Cuban 'cautiously optimistic' NBA will finish season sans fans

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has weighed in on how he thinks the 2019-20 NBA season will play out. Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Mark Cuban 'cautiously optimistic' NBA will finish season without fans

By Blake Harper | Last updated 4/30/20

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he is "cautiously optimistic" that the NBA will be able to finish their season, but he says that if that happens, it will almost certainly happen without any fans.

In an interview on CNN, Cuban said that the league would need to put "safety first" but once they felt they had a plan to keep everyone safe, the league could return.

"Once we can determine that we can keep the players and the important personnel that are required to put on a game [safe], then we'll certainly look at all the options," Cuban said. "I'm cautiously optimistic we'll be able to finish the season for television. I don't expect that we'll have fans."

Mark Cuban: "I'm cautiously optimistic we'll be able to finish the (NBA) season for television, I don't expect that we'll have fans." pic.twitter.com/FoZU0Mn4EA
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) April 30, 2020

Cuban was asked if he felt like the odds were higher than 50% but he refused to speculate one way or another, instead, reiterating that he was "cautiously optimistic."

Since shutting down in March, the NBA has been trying to figure out a way to restart the season without putting players, coaches and league personnel at risk. There have been reports that the league is looking into finishing out the season in a single location, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Orlando.

As for when the season would resume, the timeline is unclear. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski has stated that mid-June is the "best-case" scenario but when asked last week, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said it was too early to speculate.

"We're just not ready to set a date yet in terms of how long we can wait before we no longer would be able to continue this season," Silver said. "I would just say everything is on the table, including potentially delaying the start of next season. We just need more information."

Still, hearing Cuban's optimism has to be exciting for NBA fans who feared the season would be canceled. At the very least, it sounds like the NBA returning in the summer is a possibility.

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