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NHL, NBA Confront Uncertain Futures
NHL, NBA Confront Uncertain Futures
Gordon Jones ‘22 Staff Writer
Oklahoma City, March 11. Chesapeake Energy Arena is buzzing as tip-off between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Utah Jazz is moments away.
Jazz center Rudy Gobert was feeling flu-like symptoms, similar to those of Covid-19, for an undetermined amount of time before he was tested prior to the game on the eleventh. His results came back positive.
The whole league seemed to come to a screeching halt as an NBA official ran onto the court and gathered referees to address the situation. The stadium was immediately evacuated and all staff and officials were either evacuated or put under quarantine.
The NBA later announced that they would put the season on “temporary hiatus,” later opting to suspend the season indefinitely.
Not soon after, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced that they would “pause” the NHL season and playoffs. “In all likelihood, we aren’t going to get through the rest of the season without a player testing positive. Particularly because the Utah Jazz had used locker rooms within 24 hours of our teams using the same locker rooms in buildings that we share with the NBA,” said Bettman.
Since March 4, the Utah Jazz had played in Boston, New York, and Detroit right here at the Little Caesars Arena. So it made sense when Detroit Pistons forward Christian Wood announced on March 14 that he had tested positive for Covid-19. Wood later made a full recovery.
As of now, there still is not any definitive answer for either league’s seasons to be resumed. We are likely to be a long way away from seeing any pro hockey or basketball.
With neither league having any set dates to return, and the U.S. being hit worse than the majority of countries around the world, it’s likely both seasons are cancelled until a vaccine or other treatment is developed for the novel coronavirus.
It is likely that there will not be a 2019-20 NBA Finals Champion or NHL Stanley Cup Champion.
Unfortunately there isn’t much hope for a prompt return to the NBA or NHL, or any other major sports for that matter.