76ers: Is Adam Silver Thinking About Pausing the NBA Season Again?

The Philadelphia 76ers are among many teams across the NBA to see COVID-19 spread within the team. Last Wednesday, Sixers backup power forward Georges Niang entered the league's health and safety protocol ahead of Philadelphia's matchup against the Miami Heat.

A few days later, Sixers guard Shake Milton and the veteran center Andre Drummond became the second and third players to enter the protocol for the Sixers this month. While the Sixers have just three players currently dealing with COVID-19-related setbacks, this isn't their first battle with the virus.

Last month, several Sixers missed extended time as they've tested positive for COVID-19. It all started with Tobias Harris, who showed symptoms ahead of one of Philly's matchups. After testing positive, he entered into the protocol.

That led to a domino effect as the second-year guard Isaiah Joe tested positive, followed by the defensive standout Matisse Thybulle and the four-time All-Star, Joel Embiid. As the Sixers have dealt with seven COVID-related setbacks this year and even had their game postponed on Sunday, many are raising the question: Will NBA Commissioner Adam Silver pause the season?

What's the Plan?

The Sixers aren't alone in the NBA's battle against COVID-19. According to ESPN's Baxter Holmes, the number of players in the league's health and safety protocol has increased from 17 in the months of October through November to 104 in December alone.

As the league continues to see that number increase on almost an hourly basis, is Adam Silver considering another temporary shutdown similar to the one two seasons ago when COVID-19 first made its way into the NBA?

Not right now.

In a sitdown with ESPN's Malika Andrews on Tuesday, Silver discussed the state of the NBA and revealed the league's plans moving forward. While the Commissioner didn't hesitate to shut the league down during the 2019-2020 season, he seems much more hesitant to do so this time around.

Commissioner Adam Silver joined NBA Today to talk about COVID in the league as Christmas Day approaches.

Silver said there are currently no plans to pause the season. pic.twitter.com/LFIPCCejnQ
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) December 21, 2021

"No plans right now to pause the season," Silver said. "We have, of course, looked at all the options, but frankly, we are having trouble coming up with what the logic would be behind pausing right now. As we look through these cases literally ripping through the country, let alone the rest of the world, I think we're finding ourselves where we sort of knew we were going to get to over the past several months, and that is this virus will not be eradicated, and we're going to have to learn to live with it. I think that's what we're experiencing in the league right now."

Although some games are getting re-scheduled, the NBA has tweaked the rules a bit, allowing teams to temporarily add players without cutting ties with others to add depth to depleted rosters. It's certainly not an ideal situation for the Sixers or anybody else, but the league doesn't have too many options right about now.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.

Add us as a preferred source on Google