NBA chief Adam Silver opens up on 'Frantic' car ride leading up to shutting down of league

Just around a year earlier, NBA commissioner Adam Silver shocked the world after deciding to call off the ongoing NBA season due to the ever-spreading coronavirus pandemic. The league was indefinitely suspended for at least 30 days after Rudy Gobert tested positive for coronavirus, prior to the tip-off between Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder. Silver has now revealed the details of what went on behind the scenes which led to the suspension of the 2019/20 season, and how everything was worked out during a frantic car ride. 

NBA schedule: Adam Silver on calling off the league during a cab ride to his apartment 

In an interview with Yahoo News, Adam Silver revealed that the NBA was not planning to call off the league until Rudy Gobert tested positive for coronavirus. The league commissioner said that they were outlining contingency plans, mostly regarding fans and attendance in arenas, with Dr. Anthony Fauci having testified in front of Congress, and recommended that the NBA move forward without large crowds earlier that day. Many franchisees were already planning on banning gatherings of more than 1000, with the Golden State Warriors preparing to play without spectators. 

Silver had boarded a cab ride back home when he received a message from NBA general counsel Rick Buchanan. Oklahoma's commissioner of health was one of the first to know of Gobert’s positive test. He called Governor Kevin Stitt, who happened to be at the Thunder game with his son. Stitt hustled to find Thunder owner Clay Bennett, who convened an emergency meeting.

The urgency of the situation stuck with Silver when Buchanan was relaying the message to him and he received a call from Bennett. Silver, Bennett, Thunder general manager Sam Presti and others collectively made the decision to put the game on hold. There were 19,000 in attendance for the game, with the PA announcer telling them, "We are waiting for league confirmation to start the game" as the referees informed the decision to the two head coaches. 

Adam Silver revealed he asked around in search of guidance from local health authorities and "Within that five-, 10-minute period, we didn't receive any directives. So at that point, we, the NBA, I made a decision that we needed to call that game". And as the Thunder officials evacuated the arena, the NBA commissioner made the bigger call of halting the league. He said, "While it was a very difficult decision to shut down the league, it wasn't all that complicated. We had a positive case. We didn't know how quickly this would spread. We need to stop operating".

Silver admitted that he was not thinking of the economic effects and felt that it was a short-term issue. However, the suspension of the NBA schedule set off a ripple effect on other major sports leagues and the country's response to the coronavirus threat. The NBA was the first to pull the trigger, and Silver admits that he wasn't thinking as grand. The NBA commissioner said that he was focused at the moment, and only thinking about the league that he runs. The NBA remained suspended for 141 days, before returning to action in Orlando, Florida in a bubble at Walt Disney World on July 12. 

(Image Courtesy: nba.com)