With the sports world shut down, both the NBA and BIG3 are pondering special basketball games to tide viewers over during the coronavirus pandemic.
In an interview with ESPN Wednesday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league is discussing the possibility of an exhibition game for charity involving players who have been tested, quarantined and isolated to ensure that they do not have the virus.
Silver characterized the potential game as a necessary diversion during a period of no live sports.
On Thursday, the BIG3 basketball league said it was working on a tournament featuring quarantined players. According to Yahoo! Sports, the players would live in a house provided by the league and play in an on-site facility. Their daily lives in the house would be monitored by cameras à la reality television.
The BIG3 tournament would be separate from its actual season, which is not scheduled to begin until June 20.
As for regular games, Silver said the NBA is not planning to return until public health officials approve. The CDC recommended last week that there should be no public gatherings of 50 or more people until at least mid-May.
The NBA season has been suspended since March 11. The regular season was to end April 15 and the playoffs was set to run from April 18 to as late as June 21. ESPN reported earlier this week that NBA executives believe a return in June would be a best-case scenario, meaning a season that could run as late as August.
When asked whether an August finish could become the rule in future years, with a corresponding later start to the season, Silver said it was a possibility.
