NBA players have requested further negotiations with league bosses before signing off on plans to resume the season in Florida next month, the National Basketball Players’ Association said in a statement on Friday.
The union said that its board of player representatives had approved a fresh round of talks with the NBA on its 22-team return to play scenario.
“Various details remain to be negotiated and the acceptance of the scenario would still require that all parties reach agreement on all issues relevant to resuming play,” the union said following a conference call involving player representatives.
Photo: EPA-EFE
ESPN reported that the union had agreed in principle to the 22-team restart plan, but needed to iron out the fine details.
The NBA’s board of governors on Thursday gave the green light to a plan to restart the COVID-19-interrupted season at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, on July 31.
According to the NBA’s proposal, all teams will be based at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex to minimize the threat of the novel coronavirus. Games are to be played without spectators.
Playoffs would take place in August, with the NBA Finals to be completed by Oct. 12. The league has also penciled in a provisional Dec. 1 start date for the 2020-2021 season.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Thursday said that the restart plan was still in its early stages.
“We are in the equivalent of the first inning. We’ve got a long ways to go here,” Silver said. “We have always been looking for a safe way to resume, knowing we are going to be living with this virus for a while.”
The NBA suspended its season on March 11 as the COVID-19 pandemic spread, leaving professional sport in North America at a standstill.
Under the restart proposal, 16 teams occupying the playoff berths in the Western and Eastern conferences will be joined by six more teams to determine the final playoff line-up.
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