Adam Silver: Coronavirus outbreak in bubble could end season

NBA commissioner Adam Silver is a realist and understands one outbreak could sink things before games even resume in Orlando. Chris Nicoll-USA TODAY Sports

NBA commissioner Adam Silver reiterates coronavirus outbreak in bubble could end season

By Zac Wassink | Last updated Jun 30, 2020 2:27 PM ET

The NBA's plan to avoid catastrophe and keep all personnel as safe as possible while returning to play amid the coronavirus pandemic includes everybody involved with completing the 2019-20 season quarantining, living, and playing at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Florida.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver is a realist, though, and understands one outbreak could sink things before games resume.

While speaking with reporters last Friday, Silver admitted that any "significant spread" of the virus could cause him to postpone or even cancel the season.

He reiterated those comments during a "Time 100" talk on Tuesday:

According to Time's Sean Gregory, Silver said: "Certainly, if we have a lot of cases, we’re going to stop. You cannot run from this virus. I am absolutely convinced that it will be safer on this campus than off this campus, because there aren’t many other situations I’m aware of where there’s mass testing of asymptomatic employees. So in some ways this is maybe a model for how other industries ultimately open."

On Monday, Brooklyn Nets players Spencer Dinwiddie and DeAndre Jordan announced they recently tested positive. Jordan is not joining the Nets in Orlando, while Dinwiddie hasn't yet declared his intentions.

Superstars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, along with Wilson Chandler, are other Brooklyn players not journeying to the bubble site on or around July 7.

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

More must-reads: