Report: 2021 Season Could 'Realistically' Begin in January or February
The LA Clippers' 2020 campaign came to a difficult end in September, but fortunately, fans of the team may not have to wait that much longer for the 2021 season to begin.
In a conversation with The Athletic's Shams Charania, Michele Roberts, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), said the upcoming season could realistically start in January or February.
"The latter part of January, February makes sense. If it's later than that, if we have a terrible winter because the virus decides to reassert herself, that's fine. The absolute earliest would be January, and that's doable."
Additionally, Charania noted that the NBA and NBPA have shared goals of an 82-game season, in-market play, less travel and a potentially reduced amount of fans.
Moreover, Roberts says the league can't go much beyond Dec. 1 for the start of the free agency period, though the cap and tax are still unknown.
All in all, this doesn't sound like an easy feat to pull off — having a full 82-game season with a February start date would either mean there would be less time between games or that the league is prepared to push the playoffs back into September or October once again.
Having fans in attendance at games also sounds like a stretch, given the circumstances. Still, they've been allowed to attend NFL and college football games in limited quantities throughout their respective seasons. Perhaps this would be a decision left up to each franchise?
More details will come out once this current season finishes, and league officials have time to discuss future plans. For now, though, we can only remain hopeful that next season will be able to go on without a hitch.
