As NBA COVID-19 Numbers Continues Spiking, When Is The Bottom Line Going To Be About Health & Safety And Not The $?

Omicron a variant that causes COVID-19 continues to spread amongst the NBA like a wildfire as a whole from the parking lots of the practice facilities to inside through the offices to the practice court. The same is for the arenas on the day of scheduled games. Why does NBA Commissioner Adam Silver refuse to at least pause the season if he cares about the players and employees of the NBA as he says?

According to Adrian Wojnarowski, Senior NBA Insider for ESPN, said according to ESPN sources, among game officials 36% of the league’s referees are in COVID-19 protocols and that 25 of the league’s 70 active referees is currently in quarantine. Also according to Woj and ESPN sources, it was said that the NBA has been promoting G League referees to fill out the nightly roster of games. NBA referees are 100% vaccinated and are required to be fully boosted.

NBA players and coaches are testing positive left and right driving the quarantine numbers through the roof, in December alone at an unprecedented rate. As of last night 225 players have entered the league’s health and safety protocols so far this season. 210 players in December alone with around 175 players in the past two weeks. 7 coaches total so far all season has had to quarantine.

I ask, what’s the difference of pausing the remaining season until further notice for the health and safety of all the employees that make the NBA what it is (players, coaches, fans, janitorial staff, concessions etc) vs a locked out shortened season due to lockouts from CBA disagreements like we’ve seen in the past. MLB is currently not in business because of a lockout. A possible lockout for the NBA is looming once the old CBA expires, which is set to expire after the 2023-2024 season, however both sides could opt out after the 2022-2023 season.

At what point does it stop being about the dollar for the bottom line and the bottom line start being about the health and safety of life? Mankind? Humanity? Can’t tv deals be reworked? No, the NBA may not want to do that, however there’s a lot of things that we don’t want to do in life but we have to. The bubble was a success! Tv deals was still fulfilled. Players and coaches still got paid. NBA ownership, execs, and referees still got paid. Stadium staff as well. In return basketball fans got basketball. Why not do it again? Could the bubble concept be spiced up to make it more appealing? Yes. No doubt. Would a March Madness style work and be interesting? YES! EASILY! Win and move on. Or lose and go home. Or a best of three series until the Sweet 16. Then from the Sweet 16 to the Finals, all series switch to a seven game series. Simple format. Keep it simple. Just my thoughts.