Michele Roberts, executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, was in an Uber on March 11 when the NBA suspended the 2019-20 regular season. During SBJ’s CAA World Congress Comes To You virtual event last week, I asked Roberts to talk about her reactions when she first heard that news.
Her response has been edited for space and clarity:
Coincidentally, my staff and I had a meeting with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and his staff that morning. Things were obviously not getting better, and we were trying to come to terms with what we were going to do.
Michele Roberts was riding home when calls started blowing up her phones.ESPN Images
We came away understanding that when, not if, a player tested positive for COVID-19, we needed to do something drastic like postpone the season and figure out what the next move would be.
That evening, I left the office early because I wanted to go home and watch the Oklahoma City-Utah game. When I got out of the Uber, my phones were blowing up. Unfortunately in my business, I have to have more than one phone.
The one I answered was Chris Paul. He asked me, “What’s going on?” Just moments earlier, the Thunder and Jazz were on the court, and the players were told to return to their locker rooms. Obviously, I had no idea what was going on.
Adam was calling me on another one of my phones. He said, “Turn the TV on.” That’s when I learned that, in fact, one of the players had tested positive. I didn’t know who it was at the time. But I absolutely understood that we were going to stop that game.
The good news is that I didn’t have to convince Adam, or Adam didn’t have to convince me. It’s about safety first.
It wasn’t that long after when it was clear that we needed to just postpone the games. Because the players are traveling, attempting to trace what teams you had played — it became ridiculous.
I don’t know why at that time I thought this would have lasted a couple of weeks. I would not have imagined it was going to take this long. But with every day, it’s obvious that it has to take as long as it has until we can do this again safely.
