Menu
Coronavirus and Sports

Nets GM: NBA Leaving No Stone Unturned On Season Restart

Marks said the NBA has a proven track record of being very creative and having a collaborative approachNBAE/GETTY IMAGES

Nets GM Sean Marks said the NBA and Commissioner Adam Silver are "turning over every rock they possibly can" in order to finish the season once the coronavirus pandemic dissipates, according to Greg Logan of NEWSDAY. Marks yesterday said, "We've seen before with commissioner Silver and the league, they have a proven track record of being very creative, being very fluid and having a collaborative approach to this. So, it would not surprise me in the slightest when they do come out with whatever the next couple of months look like" (NEWSDAY, 4/2). ESPN's Stephen A. Smith noted there are a "lot of people contemplating a doomsday scenario where the NBA has to cancel its season." However, he said "I can assure you, with the numerous NBA folks that I’ve spoken to, nobody is thinking cancellation. They’re thinking about finding a city or two, quarantining players and two to four hotels where only NBA personnel and immediate family members are available.” Smith said even though Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban “used the word ‘hope,’ lot of people in the NBA are even more optimistic than that." Smith: "They refuse to give up on the season just yet” (“SportsCenter,” ESPN, 4/1).

VIEW FROM TORONTO: Raptors President Masai Ujiri on the importance of resuming the season said, "We salvage the NBA season by abiding by the rules and doing everything that we have to do as people, as a community, everything we possible can. This is not about the NBA, NBA players, NBA fans. It's about the whole world" (TORONTO STAR, 4/2). Ujiri said that this shutdown has "not been a time for basketball negotiating." He added that neither he nor coach Nick Nurse have "used this time to talk to the Raptors about contract extensions." Contracts for both Ujiri and Nurse expire after the '20-21 season. Ujiri said, "It's not kind of where our minds are right now" (GLOBE & MAIL, 4/2). In Toronto, Mike Ganter notes Ujiri "spends his days in his home on the phone -- web calls, video calls with his players, with his management team, with other team heads and NBA front office types ensuring the people in his care are first of all healthy and the game he loves remains functioning." Then there are calls with various heads of state around the world "ensuring his Giants of Africa interests and his work with Basketball Without Borders doesn't fall by the wayside while the world deals" with the pandemic (TORONTO SUN, 4/2).

CLEAN FINISH? In Ft. Lauderdale, Ira Winderman writes he is "coming around" to the notion that the NBA should cancel the rest of the season. Winderman: "Consider that just two weeks from now, the season was scheduled to be over for 14 of the 40 teams. By the end of this month, that would have been the case for 22 teams. So you either keep pushing the schedule out, as well as all the other offseason ancillary events, or you return to more of an NBA normalcy." Rather than than impacting future seasons in an attempt to "milk every possibility of this season," the NBA "could return to somewhat of a more typical offseason" (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 4/2). ESPN's Kendrick Perkins said he is "totally against" the idea of finishing the season at a neutral, centralized location. Perkins: “There’s no way that I would be leaving my family during this pandemic. ... The NBA needs to do what they do best, and that’s lead by example. Set the tone of us social distancing ourselves and making sure that the world is clear of this situation” (“Get Up," ESPN, 4/2). SI.com graded the possible NBA regular-season scenarios (4/1).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2020/04/02/Coronavirus-and-Sports/NBA.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2020/04/02/Coronavirus-and-Sports/NBA.aspx

CLOSE