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NBA executives still hope they can arrange a one-site 16-team playoff with a five-to-seven-game regular season as a warmup, all conducted without fans in attendance, according to multiple league sources.

“They’re very determined to have a champion,” one industry source said.

The playoffs could be reduced to best-of-three series for the duration of the playoffs, while a single-elimination format has been all but ruled out and would only be considered as a last resort.

“Nothing is off the table,” another league official said.

Las Vegas, Orlando, Atlantic City, Hawaii and Louisville have been mentioned as possible place to host the playoffs.

The NBA hasn't ruled out the possibility of canceling the season altogether. 

Via Marc Berman/New York Post

Have the playoffs In Hawaii

Louisville has a really nice arena

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Since the Raptors won all the neutral sites should be located in Canada. We have less corona than you guys. In terms of corona the US is the wealthiest nation in the world.

If they can find a way to pull it off I'm all for having some kind of fn sports to watch but man the pandemic is not even peaking yet so whenever if ever it happens is going to be months away not weeks

SpaceCenter wrote:Since the Raptors won all the neutral sites should be located in Canada. We have less corona than you guys. In terms of corona the US is the wealthiest nation in the world.

Winnipeg. Central timezone. Currently 96 cases in all of the province of Manitoba.

I do not want to see single elimination. If it is that, or pair down the playoff to the top 4 from each conference, I'd rather see the latter. You don't fight all regular season long to go to a single elimination with no home court advantage.

A single elimination tournament would not create an NBA playoff champion, it would create an NBA tournament cup winner.

There’s a possibility that there won’t be much of an MLB season and these quacks are still talking about playoffs?

SpaceCenter wrote:Since the Raptors won all the neutral sites should be located in Canada. We have less corona than you guys. In terms of corona the US is the wealthiest nation in the world.

In terms of maple syrup, Canada is the wealthiest nation in the world. Also, Canadians cheered the most when Durant got injured, so they're disqualified from hosting these neutral sites.

GiannisAnte34 wrote:

SpaceCenter wrote:Since the Raptors won all the neutral sites should be located in Canada. We have less corona than you guys. In terms of corona the US is the wealthiest nation in the world.

In terms of maple syrup, Canada is the wealthiest nation in the world. Also, Canadians cheered the most when Durant got injured, so they're disqualified from hosting these neutral sites.

Maple syrup is expensive here though. You'd think if we were so rich in syrup it would be affordable but no. As for Durant, we were celebrating our guaranteed title not the injury. Him getting injured meant we were champions.

Seems like the optics would be bad on this move

16 teams is still ~250 players... and figure another 200ish staff (coaches, trainers, etc...)
Plus all the score/time-keepers and officials.
General stadium staff.
Charter flight crew, hotel staff, caterers.
Since they're televising this-- then camera crews, producers, reporters.

It's not 20K per arena, but you're still talking hundreds of exposure points.... by a bunch of young/rich people who tend to feel invincible. Some of them are already silent carriers. If KAT's mother is in a coma on a respirator, have to think he has visited her. Of the 16 playoff teams, who doesn't have 1 or 2 people with a similar experience. Of the players/staffers, which team doesn't have a few who frequently break recommended quarantine every day. Or someone in their pod who does.

Assuming this goes forward to the degree that they start planning the logistics, why wouldn't the various health professionals and states governors out there jump at the chance to talk about the NBA in the same way they discussed Clearwater FL Spring Breakers -- "reckless and irresponsible -- endangering all of our elderly and immune-compromised etc..."

What would stop one WaPo or NYT writer from taking all these observations I made in <1 min and writing a more detailed, well-researched OpEd about the risks of this, and include expert opinions from CDC/NIH doctors?

Would Silver/owners/board of Governors really want all that heat?
And how much worse if the other leagues don't follow suit -- but only the NBA.

Optics.

Damn. LeBron's never going to be able to get into the playoffs as a Laker.

Not that I should feel bad for him, but I almost feel the worst for him since he's at the end of his career and he's still capable of accomplishing so much.

Did anyone seriously think LeBron would make the playoffs as a Laker?

Does everyone involved in the 'tournament' (can't really call it the playoffs), have to get tested the day before it starts? All players, all coaching and staff, all broadcaster staff, etc.? Do they then have to remain in isolation until the tournament is complete?

What if Kawhi or Lowry or LeBron or any of the other key players on the 16 teams test positive, do they then cancel the tournament? Do we then get a legit asterisk next to the winning team's name? Do any of the other players simply refuse to keep playing in the tournament due to the risk of catching the virus?

At the moment, this tournament looks like a bad idea.

Maybe since no home-court advantage, give the "home" team 1st possession of the start of the game and again to begin the 3rd.

deeps6x wrote:Did anyone seriously think LeBron would make the playoffs as a Laker?

Does everyone involved in the 'tournament' (can't really call it the playoffs), have to get tested the day before it starts? All players, all coaching and staff, all broadcaster staff, etc.? Do they then have to remain in isolation until the tournament is complete?

What if Kawhi or Lowry or LeBron or any of the other key players on the 16 teams test positive, do they then cancel the tournament? Do we then get a legit asterisk next to the winning team's name? Do any of the other players simply refuse to keep playing in the tournament due to the risk of catching the virus?

At the moment, this tournament looks like a bad idea.

I want it cancelled so that Giannis doesn't win a ring and joins the raptors. Although that does suck for Milwaukie they're going to be in the same situation as the Montreal Expos and we all know what happened to their franchise.

Instead of playing in 1 centralized neutral ground, perhaps they can spread the finals thru 4-8 arenas. So, instead of having 16 teams in one city, you have 4 teams in each of 4 cities or 2 teams in each of 8 cities which would make things more manageable.

I also believe given the current calamity in New York and Seattle, the duo will probably be amongst the first cities to fully recover from the coronavirus. Therefore, we can have New York, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, Las Vegas, Hawaii, Louisville and Orlando as the Finals venue with 2 teams each.

The other thing is any continuation of the regular season is untenable given the coronavirus. Having all 30 teams in one city is impossible. So, it's best to just forget about it and move on.