Adam Silver says he wants to ‘believe’ the NBA will return to finish the season

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver joined ESPN’s Rachel Nichols for an interview live via satellite on Wednesday evening to offer some insight on the options available for the league to finish the 2019-2020 season.

Here are some of the main points from Silver’s interview:

• The three options the NBA is looking at:

1 - Restarting the season with fans being allowed in the arenas.

2 - Play without fans as long as the league gets clearance from doctors that it is safe to play.

3 - The NBA will speak with the players to see if some of them would be willing to play a fundraiser/form of entertainment game as a distraction from what fans are dealing with.

• The Commissioner says he doesn’t have any feeling as of now if the season can resume. Silver said he is optimistic by nature that they can still salvage the final portion of the season.

“We’re going to try by every means that we can to play basketball again. Safety and health of the players is first and fans,” Silver told Nichols.

• Silver says the COVID-19 pandemic could change the NBA calendar permanently going forward.
• Silver said if Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert hadn’t been tested, the league would have continued playing games as scheduled.
• The league heard about the Coronavirus and potential issues from NBA employees in China back in January.
• Silver says the league is always trying to think ahead in terms of entertainment. He added that with the NBA already looking at ways to make fans feel like they’re at a game virtually.

The situation is obviously very fluid. It looks like we won’t know more for at least another two months, but it is a good sign that Silver remains positive that the NBA will return at some point to finish up the season.

What do you think is the best way for the NBA to format its schedule if the league is able to resume by the summer?