Every evening at roughly 8:20pm, this all-purpose thread goes up, and the comments section is where it’s going down. What Bucks news did we not cover? What topics do you want to break down further? Or is there something non-Bucks that you want to bounce off of one another? Even something non-basketball? This is the place.
Tonight’s On-Topic: Eight Week Delays and G-League Cancellations
A few bits of news coming across the wire earlier this evening:
Reporting with @malika_andrews: NBA teams operating G League franchises expect rest of the minor-league season will soon be cancelled, sources tell ESPN. Regular season runs thru end of March, playoffs into April. Players have been informed they'll be paid thru end of schedule.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 15, 2020
CDC recommendation of no events of 50-plus people for next two months comes as a number of NBA owners and executives increasingly believe a best case scenario is a mid-to-late June return to play -- with no fans. League's scouting for possible arena dates all the way thru August.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 15, 2020
Neither piece of info is great, but it seemed likely that something along the lines of a long delay was in the cards. It’s positive that the players will get their contract payouts (given how little the average G-Leaguer makes as it is), and is undoubtedly the correct and only realistic move given the nature of travel for those teams.
On the NBA front things are as up in the air as ever. If the season is delayed until June, does that open up the possibility of a truncated regular season to ramp up for a truncated playoffs? Do they choose to play it out as if nothing had happened and kick back the start of next season? At least the league will now have 30 days to assess the situation and make an informed call on how to salvage things.
Tonight’s Off-Topic: Handwashing
Wash them, folks. Just do it.
As a general rule, non-basketball topics are permitted in an open thread, provided that they follow the SB Nation Community Guidelines.