SBJ's John Ourand talks with NBPA Exec Dir Michele Roberts during the CAA World Congress Comes to You about life without the NBA as the season is on pause.
On the benchmarks Roberts is looking for to return to the court:
Roberts: There’s got to be the availability of testing. There’s not a human being that doesn’t want to know, if they can, whether or not they’re positive for the virus and so I want our players to have that question answered for them. At the end of the day, unless anyone thinks that there is a vaccine that's coming around the corner -- I'm not one of those that does -- the resumption of play is going to have to be an assessment of risk. … It's a conversation that's going to have to be had by players and their families, certainly by players among themselves, with us in the league, but it's not something we can just turn the switch on without a lot of discussion, evaluation and assessment.
On reports there is a growing level of frustration between the NBA and NBAPA over the lack of communication:
Roberts: There really isn't. I mean I like Adam (Silver), but I'm not afraid to say, and I have been critical of Adam. I am pleased that we are in virtually daily communication with the league. I'm not suggesting that everything that they're thinking and considering is being shared with us, but I suspect not. There's so much speculation going around that in some ways, in some regards, there's no point fueling it. But I've not ever not been able to get a question answered that I've had.
On how the loss of revenue from this season could affect the salary cap for next season:
Roberts: Our players are acutely aware of what any loss of revenue means to the cap. I mean even before the virus was an issue where we had the trouble with China, even before the virus happened, my players were aware that there was some potential impact on BRI because it clearly was going to mean a drop in revenue. So it didn't require me or my team to alert the players that any of this might have an impact on revenue and therefore the cap. They're thoroughly familiar with the consequences of a drop in revenue and we're being realistic about it.
