And-A: Coronavirus, Waiver Order, Lottery, Achilles Injury

In a column for USA Today, commissioner of the NBA Adam silver explained that while another bubble was not a practical fix for the 2020/21 season, the league believes it can learn from Orlando’s summer resumption and run its new season “safely and securely. responsible”. As it did before the summer restart, the NBA devised extensive health and safety protocols in consultation with experts in public health and medicine, according to Silver.

“We recognize that some people believe we should wait to come back until the pandemic is crushed, but we think overall the right approach is to start our season now.” Said Silver.

While Silver says in his column that “everyone’s health and safety remains our top priority,” it’s safe to say that financial considerations played a big part in the NBA’s decision to start its new season now. Previous reports have indicated that launching the 20/21 campaign before Christmas is expected to save between $ 500 million and $ 1 billion in projected revenue for the league.

As for the NBA’s COVID-19 vaccination plan, Silver said during an appearance on ESPN’s First Take on Monday that the league will not “cross the line in any form,” as Tim Bontemps of ESPN Relays .

“For the most part, because our players are so young and healthy without any kind of co-morbidity, they won’t be a priority for vaccinations,” Said Silver. “There are other members of the NBA community working on the court who are older and will have a higher priority to get the shot.”

Here are more odds and endings from the basketball world:

• From now until January 24, the NBA waiver order will be based on the win percentage as of March 11, tweets ESPN’s Bobby brands. Teams with the worst records at that time will have the highest override priority. Typically, the waiver order is based on the current season’s records as of December 1, but this will not happen until January 25 of this season due to the revamped schedule.
• Jonathan Tjarks of The Ringer argues that the NBA’s new lottery format – which went into effect in 2019 – has made it harder for teams to “fight their way to the top”.
• Taking into account the number Rockets players suffered torn Achilles tendons, The Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan Feigen delves deep into the injury and recovery process, explaining why he’s no longer seen as the same kind of career killer that he is. was once for NBA players. DeMarcus Cousins, John wall, and David Nwaba has suffered from Achilles tears in the past, while Chris Clemons tore his Achilles in a preseason game this month.