Plans have been in place for some time now for the 2019-20 NBA season to resume at Orlando’s Walt Disney World in late July. The season has been suspended since back in March due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Are NBA stars going to refrain from returning to the season in Orlando?
This is the latest question being raised around the Association. It was previously noted that some players have concerns over the safety of resuming the season amid the worldwide pandemic. We can add 10-time All-Star and future Hall of Fame forward Carmelo Anthony to that list.
“As far as actually playing and going back down into Orlando, I’m still up in the air a little bit because I really don’t, we don’t have all the details.” Anthony told Turner Sports this week. “We don’t know a lot of information, so until we have that, it’s hard to just commit to that 100 percent.”
Signed by the Portland Trail Blazers earlier in the season, the 36-year-old Anthony was in the midst of a career resurgence when the campaign was suspended. His Blazers currently sit at 29-37 and as the ninth seed in the Western Conference. That brings up another point.
How will the 2019-20 season look in Orlando?
Each of the 22 teams returning to the season at Walt Disney World will play eight regular-season games before the playoffs start. If a team is four games or less out of the final playoff spot, a best-of-three play-in tournament will take place.
For Portland, this complicates things. One year after earning a spot in the Western Conference Finals, the Blazers are currently 3.5 games behind Memphis for the final playoff spot.
Players on other teams who don’t have a real chance of earning a spot in the playoffs are questioning the reasoning behind returning to the season and risking their health for meaningless games. Could Anthony be in that group?