SALT LAKE CITY — Tuesday’s announcement that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics have been postponed is the latest in what has become the new normal; another major sporting event impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Only this time it affects athletes worldwide.
For the NBA, not having to worry about international play could potentially clear the way for a return to basketball this summer in the event that the spread of the virus has calmed and that resuming play is deemed safe. It’s one less hurdle the NBA would have to clear.
But, that doesn’t mean having an Olympics-less summer is the only way that the International Olympic Committee’s decision will affect the NBA.
Scheduling conflicts still exist
The IOC has not made a decision on when the Olympics will take place, with any period from spring to summer 2021 still in play — and that’s assuming that by spring of next year things will be safe.
Since the NBA also has no official restart date, the uncertainty of an Olympics timetable actually throws another wrench into the situation. The NBA is obviously hoping that it can resume some version of the 2019-20 season sometime this summer, but as the days wear on, that hope seems more unlikely.
The Chinese Basketball Association called for players to return to China with hopes of returning to play by mid-April, but that goal has already been thwarted, meaning that play will have been stalled for at least four months.
Let’s say that theoretically a roughly four-month hiatus will be needed for the NBA before possibly conducting this season’s playoffs, putting a start date near mid-July. Teams would need some sort of training camp or time to physically prepare for a playoff tournament before actually returning. Moreover, after playing out the season, a break would be needed before the start of the 2020-21 campaign could begin, if for no other reason than to have a free-agency period and incorporate the new draft class.
There has been talk of a potentially shortened 2020-21 season to accommodate scheduling problems, but even if the start date for the next season was pushed into December, the question of when the Olympics will resume again becomes a problem. In that instance, if the Olympics start in the spring, the NBA would have to consider a midseason break to allow players to compete internationally (qualifying tournaments would be another scheduling conflict dilemma).
If the Olympics take place in the summer of 2021 then a heavily abbreviated season would almost certainly be on the table in order to include a postseason before players head to Tokyo.
Team USA roster
In February, Team USA released the names of 44 finalists for the Olympic team, which included Utah Jazz guards Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley.
Had the Olympics moved forward this summer, injuries to some of the NBA’s bigger stars like Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson would have left the door open for a player like Mitchell to potentially make the final roster of 12. Now, with the extended time frame, Durant and Thompson would likely be able to join Team USA if they desired.
Of course, an extended time frame means that the list of 44 finalists could be overhauled completely and a million things could change between now and when the Olympic team is selected. Injuries are always an unknown and there’s no way to know who will be able to play at the unknown start date of the Olympics. It also means that players like rookies Zion Williamson and Ja Morant, originally left off the list of 44, will be considered for the U.S. team.
Rest
With the Olympics postponed and much of the sports world suspended, the NBA could be gearing up for the healthiest start to a season in decades. Not only does not having the Olympics in the summer give Team USA players extra time to rest and recuperate, but many of the league’s international players will be looking at their first summer without basketball.
This will of course bring up the never-ending debate of rest vs. rust, but there is no doubt that many of the league’s players will enter this season with less wear and tear on their body than ever before.
As an exercise, imagine the league’s top players coming back after a multimonth hiatus and gearing up for an emotional return to basketball in the form of the playoffs. That could lead to one of the best postseasons we’ve ever seen.
But then you have to wonder how the schedule over the next year, or years, which is sure to be tight with quick turnarounds for all involved, will impact the league and its players moving forward.
The unknown
No matter how things shake out, the biggest problem is that there are still so many unknowns. Neither the IOC nor the NBA is able to make any concrete decisions yet and without any kind of time frame, everything at this point is speculative.
Nobody knows when we will start to see relief and safety from COVID-19 and what the sports landscape will look like when that happens. Until there are some real signs that things are turning around, the health and safety of the athletes and fans will be the priority of all sports governing bodies, which means that until further notice, we are still waiting to see to what happens.