'A Black Swan Event': Coronavirus Suspension & What’s Next for Cuban’s Mavs & the NBA?
DALLAS - In the immediate aftermath of the NBA's COVID-19-driven decision to suspend regular-season play following the conclusion of Wednesday's Denver Nuggets-at-Dallas Mavericks game here at the AAC, Mavs owner Mark Cuban phrased perfectly the nature of the crisis.
"This,'' Cuban said of this strain of coronavirus and its impact on the NBA and beyond, "is a Black Swan event.''
That is to say, an occurrence that is unpredictable and maybe unprecedented carrying with it potentially dire consequences. How does the NBA, and the rest of the sports world - and for that matter, the rest of us - prepare for and deal with "unpredictable'' and "unprecedented'' and "dire''?
What's next?
*First came the NBA's decision to suspend league play on Wednesday night after Utah Jazz star Rudy Gobert was found to have tested positive for coronavirus moments before the Jazz game at Oklahoma City. (Gobert recently made light of the coronavirus outbreak while speaking to the media, playfully touching and grabbing all of their recording devices.)
That game was not played. A later Wednesday game between the Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Pelicans was canceled soon after the announcement. That left Dallas as the final NBA site ...
"For a while,'' Cuban said.
*All involved downplayed basketball itself, though Mavs coach Rick Carlisle did note that while his team found out during the third quarter about the coming hiatus, "My thoughts were ‘we need to win this game.’”
The Mavs did that, upsetting the Nuggets to win their 40th game of the season. It's relatively inconsequential, of course, who is where in the standings and which teams will oppose one another once the NBA Playoffs begin.
But it's on the list of things to do, with the assumption that normalcy will eventually return.
*“The NBA will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic,” the league said in its statement Wednesday night. In other words, there needs to be a plan related to the virus. And there needs to be a plan about resumption of play.
While Cuban stressed that his immediate concern was about the health and safety of his family and beyond, he did add, "We have a lot of flexibility (in terms of scheduling and stretching the season on the calendar). I don’t want to speak for (Commissioner) Adam (Silver) or the NBA, but in terms of the NBA basketball side of this, we have a lot of flexibility because there’s nothing that happens after June 12 when we typically end our season.
"It’s more important for us to get it right.”
(DallasBasketball.video courtesy @TexasMetroNews)
*This does represent a financial crisis, on various scales. For the league and its players, there can be a ripple effect that causes a shrinkage in revenue streams and therefore in the salary cap. Lack sympathy for billionaires and millionaires? Fine - then consider the arena workers who figure to be out of work and short on income during this time.
Cuban, to his credit, immediately made that a consideration.
“When some of the things were coming up that we might not play games – this was (Tuesday) – I reached out to the folks at the arena and our folks at the Mavs to find out what it would cost to financially support people who aren’t going to be able to come to work,'' Cuban said. "You know, they get paid by the hour, and this was their source of income. So, we’ll do some things there. We may ask them to go do some volunteer work in exchange, but we’ve already started the process of having a program in place. I don’t have any details to give, but it’s certainly something that’s important to me.”
(Read more on Cuban's leadership here.)
The playoffs were set to begin on April 18. Maybe basketball will be back by then, and paychecks big and not so big, can be back in place. And the same goes for other leagues, sporting events and places where large crowds gather. Here, the scoop on what the NFL's Dallas Cowboys are - and are not - doing so far in response to the crisis.
*The Mavs have already started giving instructions to players. Cuban and Carlisle both said Mavs players have been told to stay in town, to recognize that "this is not a vacation,'' and to be "responsible.''
Said Carlisle: "We have laid down the basics as we know them. Everyone is to stay in town. That is one thing we told our guys. Games are suspended. Team activities are not.''
Said Cuban: This is effectively self-quarantining everybody.”
Here, assorted NBA players' reaction to the news.
*Cuban's initial televised reaction upon seeing the news on his phone has created quite a stir. More valuable, we think, are his thoughts, as he shared them a few moments later.
"I have this saying,'' Cuban said, that 'Life is half-random.' This is the random side, where it takes twists and turns ... It’s stunning, but we are where we are. ... This is a pandemic, a global pandemic, where people’s lives are at stake. I’m a lot more worried about my kids and my mom who is 82 years old, in talking to her and telling her to stay in the house, than I am about when we play our next game.''
