The NBA is set to resume on December 22, and CJ McCollum is not happy about it, calling out the NBA for a lack of clarity regarding the new season.
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In the final stages of the Orlando Bubble, there were talks about the 2020-21 season and when would it take place. The NBPA was adamant that the new season would not start anytime before January end/February start.
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Ever since the season ended in Orlando, the NBA has been in constant meetings with the owners and the NBPA regarding a lot of matters. The first thing they discussed was the restart of the season. The NBPA tried to push for a later start, but the owners and NBA explained how the later start could cost billions of dollars in revenue. In the end, a shorter 72 game season was decided upon, which begins on 22nd December.
While teams that were not in the Bubble, or returned from the Bubble soon enough will have enough time to recuperate and go all guns blazing from December 22, teams like Lakers and Miami have a very short turnaround and will need to heavily manage their star players.
CJ McCollum empathises with LeBron James, Lakers and Heat
Usually, the NBA season wraps up by the second week of June, and resumes play in the last week of October. That roughly adds up to 4.5 months of break. This time the season ended on October 12th and is said to resume on 22nd December. That is roughly only 70 days of break.
CJ McCollum feels the break isn’t enough time of rest for the teams who battled till the end, i.e, the Lakers and the Heat.
In the podcast, the Blazers star particularly points out how the scheduling will be pretty brutal on LeBron James, Lakers and the Heat. ‘The King’ is sure to ‘load manage’ his way through next season.
“They played us, we were not supposed to start (the season) this fast… 70 days for Bron & the Heat.”
– @CJMcCollum on the restart.
He says the NBA still hasn’t shared a plan on COVID-19 protocol with the season starting in THREE weeks. 😳
EPISODE: https://t.co/VY1Lph1612 pic.twitter.com/Z6GhiXGiWl
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) November 24, 2020
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Unlike the last season, teams will play on their own courts this time. This means they will also travel to other places for their matches and the risk level is way higher.
Amidst all this, the NBA still hasn’t released their Covid-19 protocols. When asked about the protocol, CJ said he was as clueless as any of us. This is concerning as with all the traveling and touring, this season has higher chances of players being exposed to the virus.
Hopefully, this is sorted soon, and we have a wonderful season ahead.
