The wait for Toronto Raptors basketball continues as NBA Commissioner Adam Silver revealed a decision regarding the NBA season wouldn’t be made until at least May.
It might not feel exactly like news, but on Monday evening, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver revealed that a decision regarding the NBA season wouldn’t likely be made until at least May 1. That revelation doesn’t necessarily come as a surprise, but it means the wait for Toronto Raptors basketball goes on.
Featuring on the NBA’s Twitter account as part of the league’s #NBATogether content, a new twice-a-week talk show hosted by TNT’s Ernie Johnson, where he interviews special guests while streaming on Twitter, Silver spoke about a variety of topics, including talks over the league but the difficulty in really setting a timeline.
“Essentially, what I’ve told my folks over the last week is that we just should just accept that, at least for the month of April, we won’t be in a position to make any decisions,” Silver said. “And I don’t think that necessarily means on May 1 we will be.”
The league has been hiatus for almost a month now, with the Raptors last game coming against the Utah Jazz on March 9 in a 101-92 win on the final night of their five-game west coast road trip. A few days after, Utah Jazz star Rudy Gobert was the first player in the NBA to test positive for coronavirus.
While the news means the wait for basketball will definitely go on, it’s something that we all knew already. Going back to basketball now, or even in the next few weeks would be ill-advised. As much as there is a basketball-shaped void in our life, the risk of spreading coronavirus is too high and the uncertainty of how long the pandemic may last is also a concern.
The regular season was set to end in just over a week’s time, with the playoffs kicking off a few days later. That was never possible given that there was still 21-percent of the league’s schedule left to play last month, but Silver seems to be taking all the necessary precautions before making a decision.
The possibility remains that the season could continue in the future, but for now, the NBA remains on hiatus for the foreseeable future. Ultimately, it’s the right decision.