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It looks like we are one step closer to having basketball back in our lives.
The Athletic’s Shams Charania and Sam Amick are reporting that the NBA is in serious talks with Orlando’s Disney World to be the playing site if the league is able to resume the 2019-20 regular season.
“While the league has explored the possibility of holding games in multiple cities, it appears likely that Orlando would be a sole host. Sources confirmed that Houston, as first reported by The Ringer on Wednesday, has also received serious consideration as a host city. But Orlando is on track to win its bid so long as final details regarding testing and hotel use are resolved.”
Commissioner Adam Silver is hoping to make a final decision in the coming weeks with the league leaning towards holding a mid-June training camp, and games resuming closer to mid-July.
ESPN’s Woj and Zach Lowe report that the league is hoping to send out guidelines to each NBA team by June 1 on how to recall players who left their markets when the coronavirus shutdown was still in its early stages.
There are a couple of reasons why the Orlando option makes the most sense. First, the venues to hold games are already in place, and the resort has enough hotel rooms to host the players and team personnel. The other is the media partnership between the NBA and Disney, which has exclusive rights to the NBA Finals.
The league still hasn’t given any concrete plans about how the league would proceed to finish out the schedule, which will have a huge impact on the Kings. The team is in the hunt for its first playoff berth since 2006, so playing out their final 18 games, or being a part of a mini-tournament for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference are both great options for Sacramento.
How do you think the league will structure its schedule if play resumes?
On to some links:
Which five Kings players from the last 25 years would makeup your starting lineup? The Score put together its Ultimate 5 and a majority of them come from the early part of the century.
The 2020 BIG3 season is officially cancelled and one former King is upset by the news. Mike Bibby caught up with USA TODAY about missing out on hist first season a professional head coach.
What do you think of Cory Joseph’s fit with the Kings? Fansided’s Anthony Cardenas says the point guard is more important to the team than you may think.
From around the NBA:
ESPN’s “The Last Dance” gave us some great insight into what makes the great Michael Jordan tick. While the docuseries covered a lot of stuff, CBS Sports shares some of the best MJ stories that didn’t make the final cut.
Each year, fans argue about who is the best player in the league. Sports Illustrated went back and ranked which player had the honor each season dating back to 2000.