If the Olympics are Cancelled, What Does It Mean For the NBA?

Will the Olympic cancelation impact the second half of the league's schedule?

A Recent The Times article stated that Japan is looking to cancel the 2021 Olympics amid the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic. If this does turn out to be the case, what will that mean for the second half of the NBA season?

Commissioner Adam Silver and the league front office made it a point to start the 2020-21 season less than three months after the conclusion of the previous season in part because of the looming Tokyo Olympics. Dozens of NBA players from various nations plan to participate in the historic competition, with the U.S. looking to earn its seventh Gold Medal since it began sending professional players in 1992. The league wanted to complete the season before the July 23rd start date of the Olympics, allowing players to compete for their home countries.

The league wisely left the second half of the season unscheduled, largely in anticipation of postponed games due to COVID-related absences. This turned out to be a crucial precautionary step, as the league has already postponed several games just one month into the season. These games will have to be made up on the back end of the season, before the playoffs.

But if the Olympics are cancelled, the league no longer has a hard deadline in terms of game 7 of the 2021 Finals. And with the COVID vaccine becoming more readily available by the day, would the NBA consider spreading out the second half of the season? Would it even consider a midseason pause, until the vaccine can be distributed to the league in its entirety? Perhaps even fill arenas with fans?

Most of this conjecture is predicated on circumstances that are out of the league’s control. Whether the new U.S. administration can ramp up the roll-out of the vaccine is a huge variable, and the NBA has already stated that it will not allow its players to “jump the line” and receive vaccines before health care workers, elderly citizens and people with underlying conditions.

More than likely, the league will continue along its current trajectory. The NBA wants to return to its October start date and to normalcy, just like everyone else in the world. And in order to give its players a proper offseason, a mid-June ending to the season is paramount. But it is worth noting that there seems to no longer be a scheduling conflict.