Adam Silver: "No plans right now to pause the season."

Speaking with Malika Andrews on NBA Today on ESPN, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said there are "no plans right now to pause the season."

Silver added that: "Frankly, we're having trouble coming up with what the logic would be behind pausing right now...I think we're finding ourselves where we knew we were going to get to for the past several months, and that is that this virus will not be eradicated and we're going to have to learn to live with it, and I think that's what we're experiencing in the league right now."

"It seems for us that the right and responsible thing to do, taking all the factors into consideration, is to continue to play."

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

Silver said the NBA has only had a small number of breakthrough cases, and they've essentially been asymptomatic or had mild symptoms. "Based on the data the NBA has, boosters are highly effective, and we're strongly encouraging everyone to get them."

Regarding how seriously the league has considered having asymptomatic players with Covid-19 be able to play or to test out faster like the NFL is now doing, the commissioner relayed the following.

"We're not quite there yet, but we're paying a lot of attention to what other leagues are doing. The NFL just came out with a new protocol; of course, we talk to the other leagues. We're talking to lots of other organizations, lots of doctors, and scientists to figure out what the right thing to do is."

"We do think there's an opportunity to potentially lead here. We have a highly vaccinated group. We're moving towards a group that's well above the national average in terms of boosters, but we'd like to get it way up into the 90-percents just like we have with vaccinated players. And maybe we can demonstrate that there's a way that people can move forward, again recognizing that this virus, unfortunately, isn't going anywhere, and it's just going to become part of our lives for the foreseeable future."

While discussing making adjustments to the NBA's health and safety protocols, here's what Silver said regarding players vaccinated and boosted.

"It's not just our doctors, but the medical community is looking at; I think they're already realizing that you can move away from the ten-day protocol when you have players already vaccinated and boosted. It seems that the virus runs through their systems faster; they become not just asymptomatic, but more importantly, they're not shedding the virus anymore; that's the real concern in terms of others. And so we are actively looking at shortening the amount of days that a player is out before he can return to the floor."

Part 2: Commissioner Adam Silver addresses testing, asymptomatic players and potential competitive imbalance with signing short-term players. pic.twitter.com/3pJS5KJG1Z
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) December 21, 2021

Later in the conversation, Silver acknowledged the difficulty of teams dealing with decimated rosters and competing without some of their best players. However, he also believes the season is long enough to balance itself out and that there's a more important message that comes from carrying out the campaign.

"Our ability to find a way to keep operating is also significant for society to show that there are ways despite living in this Covid era, that we can find a safe and responsible way to keep going. I think there's a recognition that these are the cards that we've been dealt. Of course, there's a certain amount of unfairness that comes with playing in certain cases with some teams where particular players are out because of Covid protocols, but the other advantage is we do have an 82-game season, and we have a long playoffs, and my sense is things will work out by the end of the season."

Regarding the NBA issuing players a vaccine mandate, Silver said: "No. It's something that we proposed. It's something that the players association wouldn't agree to. Having said that, though, roughly 97 percent of players have been vaccinated, and so from my standpoint, I'd rather focus on the 97 percent than the three percent...to me, the focus right now is on boosters for the 97 percent of players who have been vaccinated."

Sixty-five percent of the NBA players eligible for a booster shot have received one.

Silver also said that the NBA has determined around 90 percent of the cases that they're sequencing are Omicron.

One of Silver's final messages towards the end of the interview was that individuals who are vaccinated, boosted, and wear a mask (properly) should feel comfortable going to games and living their lives.

Further Reading

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