*According to Marc Stein of the New York Times, the NBA is considering resuming the season in one or two cities with no fans.
But Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James has previously made clear that he isn’t down with the idea of playing without live spectators.
“What is the word ‘sport’ without ‘fan’?” James asked on the “Road Trippin” podcast, via ESPN. “There’s no excitement. There’s no crying. There’s no joy. There’s no back-and-forth. There’s no rhyme or reason that you want to go on the road and just dethrone the home team because of their fans and vice versa.”
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Tonight’s White House press briefing: Coronavirus and social distancing guidelines are being extended nationwide through April 30
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) March 29, 2020
Earlier this month, when the question of playing with no fans came up after the Lakers defeated the Milwaukee Bucks, James said “You mean play games without the fans? No. It’s impossible. I ain’t playing. Not without the fans in the crowd. That’s who I play for. … If I show up to an arena, and there ain’t no fans there, I ain’t playing. So they can do what they want to do.”
According to brobible.com, “Stein was also quick to point out that the league could push games into later months in the year, but perhaps the biggest hurdle in any scenario is allowing players to get back into game shape which is easier said than done given the circumstance the entire world finds itself in at the moment,” the outlet writes.
Meanwhile, with the league on pause due to the coronavirus, Yahoo Sports columnist Chris Haynes has noted that the NBA plans to have a “players-only NBA-2K tournament” broadcast on ESPN, SI.com reports.
Per Haynes “The league hopes to launch the event Friday, with the tournament including some big-name players. It will be a 16-player NBA 2K tournament lasting 10 days. 4-time All-Star DeMarcus Cousins among the participants.”
The 16-player tournament will reportedly include former Warrior and current Brooklyn Net Kevin Durant, Utah Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell and former Warriors and Kings star DeMarcus Cousins.
The tournament will take place over 10 days, per Haynes.
With NBA 2K being the most popular basketball video game franchise, the hope is to use the tournament to help fans cope with the pro-basketball drought.
Tonight’s White House press briefing: Coronavirus and social distancing guidelines are being extended nationwide through April 30
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) March 29, 2020
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