As the World Health Organization declares the coronavirus outbreak a “global health emergency,” ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (Twitter thread) explores the impact it has had on the basketball community in China.
According to Givony, the Chinese Basketball Association has postponed games indefinitely, with some CBA teams sending American players home while others prefer to have those players stick around. Although no CBA team plays within 350 miles of Hubei province (the coronavirus epicenter), there’s talk that the season may not resume until March, if it resumes at all.
As Givony explains, CBA contracts often don’t include the same player-friendly protections that other international contracts do, so some players are nervous about how the league will handle those deals. Late payments or possible voided contracts are among their concerns, Givony adds.
According to Givony (Twitter link), teams in Europe, the G League and even the NBA are likely keeping an eye on the situation. Many former NBA players are under contract in the CBA and could become free agents if the season is cancelled or their deals are voided.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- Despite the idea receiving support from some NBA players and a petition that has received nearly 3 million signatures, the league doesn’t plan on changing its logo to Kobe Bryant or any other individual player, preferring a “generic” design, says Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports. As Dan Feldman of NBC Sports explains, it’s widely known that the current logo uses Jerry West‘s silhouette, but the NBA has never formally acknowledged that.
- Veteran center Joakim Noah
published an Instagram video of him running, suggesting in the caption that he’d like to return to the NBA. “Four months post-Achilles surgery and I’m back on the track,” Noah wrote. “My goal is to get back out there and compete. I’ve had many surgeries but coming back from this would be very rewarding.” Noah’s health status is a little unclear — if the surgery he referred to was for a torn Achilles, he presumably won’t be ready to play anytime soon, but we don’t know the exact details. Noah turns 35 in February. - A handful of ESPN analysts made their predictions for the trade deadline, identifying which contenders and rebuilding teams most need to make a move. Bobby Marks and Tim Bontemps are among those who expect it to be a quiet deadline.
