NBA season on hold through at least April

The Miami Heat and the rest of the NBA will remain on suspension due to the coronavirus outbreak through at least the end of April.

League commissioner Adam Silver said on NBA Twitter no adjustments will be made this month. The league halted play March 11 after the virus began spreading in the United States. Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert was the first NBA player to test positive. In all, 15 people associated with the league have been confirmed with the virus.

Silver said player safety comes first.

"We should just accept that at least for the month of April we won't be in any position to make any decisions," Silver said, speaking to TNT's Ernie Johnson on a videoconference.

Silver said he was unsure if the league would finish the remainder of the season because "there's just too much unknown right now." The NBA is among several professional sports leagues to postpone events because of the outbreak. The NCAA also canceled the women's and men's basketball tournaments. As of Monday, there have been a reported 364,088 cases and 10,792 deaths in the United States.

If the season is canceled, it would mark the third time in 21 years the NBA failed to complete the 82-game schedule. The league held strike-shortened seasons in 1998-99 and 2011-12.

"Honestly, we haven't made any decisions," Silver said. "In a perfect world, yes, we would try to finish the regular season."

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