SALT LAKE CITY — If all goes according to plan, in just over three weeks the Utah Jazz will play a nationally broadcast game against the New Orleans Pelicans to kick off the restart of the 2019-20 NBA season.
It feels wild that I’m even saying that. By that point it will have been four and a half months since the league shut down on March 11, and at the center of it all was the Jazz, so it’s fitting that they’ll be the ones to get things started.
Before we get to that point, there are still some things that I know you’re wondering about, and as always you’ve sent in your questions and I’m here with answers. (I hope.)
The due date for Mike Conley’s third child is Aug. 27. (Congratulations to Mike and Mary, who just celebrated their sixth anniversary.)
The NBA playoffs are slated to begin on Aug. 17, with the second round of the postseason set around Aug. 31.
There are a lot of factors that could go into how many games Conley could miss. Is the baby born on the exact due date? Early? Late? Is there a date in which labor induction has been decided upon? Is it a planned caesarean delivery? How long does Conley stay with his wife and newborn after the birth?
Frankly, I don’t think any of us have the right to know the answers to many of those questions. Also, some of those questions are unanswerable.
In theory, if the baby comes around the due date and Conley returns to Orlando within a couple of days, he’s looking at approximately a week away from the team, including the mandatory four-day quarantine he will have to go through once he returns to the NBA bubble.
If that happens at the beginning of the first round he could miss anywhere from two games to the entire round. If it happens at the tail end of the first round, his absence could stretch into the second round, assuming the Jazz advance.
These aren’t black and white answers. I think we can all agree that when it comes to childbirth, there’s a ton of gray area. Hopefully this gives you a better idea of the situation though.
This is a really great question that I don’t totally know the answer to. But, I can tell you what I do know.
NBA teams, whether in regular season or playoffs, must have eight players suit up for a game. So, theoretically, if the Jazz travel with 16 players (the entire Jazz roster, including two-way players, and excluding Bojan Bogdanovic) and six players test positive for the coronavirus, are forced to quarantine and do not return a negative test before the team’s next game, the league could say that they have 10 healthy and able players remaining and the show will go on.
The league is hoping that with daily testing and a host of other safety measures that they’ll be able to avoid any kind of outbreak or widespread infection transmission. By testing players, coaches and personnel daily, the belief is that they would be able to isolate a case before it were to spread to others.
I’m absolutely hoping the NBA’s plan works. The NBA has not released any information on what would happen if a large number of players, particularly from one team, were to test positive for COVID-19. If the number left a team with less than eight players active and able to play on a roster, I’m sure there would be some rescheduling, and possibly another hiatus.
I think that the problem will be taken care of communally and that most of the rotational players will see an uptick in minutes to mitigate the loss of Bogdanovic. I don’t think that just because Bogey is out that you’ll see Jordan Clarkson playing 38 minutes a game. It’s not going to be that drastic.
It’s possible that Georges Niang is the one that sees the most impact as far as usage goes. At 6-foot-7, he has nearly the same size advantage as Bogdanovic, and he’s able to knock down threes with the best of them. He’d be a really easy answer for some of those minutes.
The NBA’s transaction window which took place last week was available to every team and was used by teams that are not heading to Orlando for the NBA restart. That window was supposed to replicate what teams are able to do right before the playoffs during a normal season. They were able to waive players or sign players that were already on the free agent market in order to boost their roster.
Every team will still have an offseason which includes a free agency period in which they can trade and sign free agents who are coming off contracts from other teams. In a normal NBA year the free agency window opens on or around July 1. This year free agency is set to begin Oct. 18. It’s weird, but it’s happening.
If you would like to have your question answered, you can send it to me at stodd@deseretnews.com with “mailbag” in the subject line, or you can send it to me via Twitter @NBASarah with the hashtag #SundayJazzMailBag.