What happens if one or both finals teams are decimated by Covid?

Laimbeer · Post #1 » by **Laimbeer** » Wed May 18, 2022 9:27 pm

Are there any provisions for postponing games? What if one or both teams lost so much the games either would not be competitive or decided by bench players? Or if one couldn't even field a team?

picko · Post #2 » by **picko** » Wed May 18, 2022 10:39 pm

If that happens then maybe an asterisk might finally make sense.

JordansBulls · Post #3 » by **JordansBulls** » Wed May 18, 2022 10:53 pm

If it’s the finals just let everyone play. At that point it probably doesn’t make sense to postpone games or make guys sit out. The only guys who would be worried are probably the ones who aren’t vaccinated.

Quattro · Post #4 » by **Quattro** » Wed May 18, 2022 10:57 pm

Double asterisk?

azcatz11 · Post #5 » by **azcatz11** » Wed May 18, 2022 10:57 pm

It’s my understanding the nba doesn’t test proactively anymore and only tests if a player is symptomatic. The likelihood that covid will wipe out an entire team or more than a few is pretty small bc most of these guys probably have had it like 20x already and if they get it again don’t have symptoms.

rapstarter · Post #6 » by **rapstarter** » Wed May 18, 2022 11:06 pm

IIRC the NFL either stopped testing or loosened the rules significantly just before the Super Bowl. Probably same thing here.

Edrees · Post #7 » by **Edrees** » Wed May 18, 2022 11:23 pm

One on one match between the coaches. Jason Kidd might have the massive edge here if he makes it

Shock Defeat · Post #8 » by **Shock Defeat** » Wed May 18, 2022 11:27 pm

Edrees wrote:One on one match between the coaches. Jason Kidd might have the massive edge here if he makes it

I think Udoka would take him. He’s younger by 5 years

RoundMoundOfRebound · Post #9 » by **RoundMoundOfRebound** » Wed May 18, 2022 11:40 pm

Game of horse between a fan of each team drawn at random.

kombayn · Post #10 » by **kombayn** » Thu May 19, 2022 12:55 am

I'm sure they'll stop testing next season. For sure by the playoffs. Losing pistol players is probably driving teams mad. But who knows

JujitsuFlip · Post #11 » by **JujitsuFlip** » Thu May 19, 2022 6:00 am

If it's just 1 team, the other team gets a free title.

GregOden · Post #12 » by **GregOden** » Thu May 19, 2022 6:26 am

RoundMoundOfRebound wrote:Game of horse between a fan of each team drawn at random.

Only if all the shots are done on the trampoline.

dk1115 · Post #13 » by **dk1115** » Thu May 19, 2022 7:10 am

I was looking forward to a game featuring each team's 9th to 13th man.

Sofia · Post #14 » by **Sofia** » Thu May 19, 2022 7:17 am

Curry finna miss out on another FMVP

Dupp · Post #15 » by **Dupp** » Thu May 19, 2022 8:16 am

dk1115 wrote:I was looking forward to a game featuring each team's 9th to 13th man.

Closest thing to kings being in the finals

batmana · Post #16 » by **batmana** » Thu May 19, 2022 9:18 am

azcatz11 wrote:It’s my understanding the nba doesn’t test proactively anymore and only tests if a player is symptomatic. The likelihood that covid will wipe out an entire team or more than a few is pretty small bc most of these guys probably have had it like 20x already and if they get it again don’t have symptoms.

I don't know if they only test "symptomatic" players but I doubt it, especially with the Horford situation. IMO, in order to know a player is symptomatic, you need to have something like an independent physician checking in on every team. I doubt the Celtics would willingly put Horford to a test that might take him out of an unknown number of games if they didn't have to.

To the OP, maybe there is a minimum of players available and if somehow a team gets below this, the league would need to make a decision. Highly unlikely but IDK what they'd do if it comes to this.

Fencer reregistered · Post #17 » by **Fencer reregistered** » Thu May 19, 2022 2:27 pm

picko wrote:If that happens then maybe an asterisk might finally make sense.

The coronavirus sort of looks like an asterisk anyway.

MrGoat · Post #18 » by **MrGoat** » Thu May 19, 2022 2:36 pm

Edrees wrote:One on one match between the coaches. Jason Kidd might have the massive edge here if he makes it

Kerr might still be able to get hot from deep though

RyderMike · Post #19 » by **RyderMike** » Thu May 19, 2022 2:39 pm

If a team is decimated by COVID, they get replaced by the Lakers.

JujitsuFlip · Post #20 » by **JujitsuFlip** » Thu May 19, 2022 5:18 pm

batmana wrote:
azcatz11 wrote:It’s my understanding the nba doesn’t test proactively anymore and only tests if a player is symptomatic. The likelihood that covid will wipe out an entire team or more than a few is pretty small bc most of these guys probably have had it like 20x already and if they get it again don’t have symptoms.

I don't know if they only test "symptomatic" players but I doubt it, especially with the Horford situation. IMO, in order to know a player is symptomatic, you need to have something like an independent physician checking in on every team. I doubt the Celtics would willingly put Horford to a test that might take him out of an unknown number of games if they didn't have to.

To the OP, maybe there is a minimum of players available and if somehow a team gets below this, the league would need to make a decision. Highly unlikely but IDK what they'd do if it comes to this.

Teams have to have 8 active players, not all 8 have to play. Long as each team has 8 that can dress, the games go on. In the event of going under that number, maybe the NBA makes an exception and makes the 2 way players eligible to play in the playoffs. If they still couldn't dress 8, then I assume the NBA would make a historic exception and allow hardship players in the post season.

At any rate, I highly doubt a team will simultaneously have 8 symptomatic players, so the hypothetical is moot.