The National Basketball Association was the first professional sports league to shut down because of the coronavirus, and their league has had several key players affected by the disease. The league is still wanting to resume their 2019-20 season at some point in the future, and they are looking at various options.
One option that is currently being discussed is to ship all of the teams to a secure location and play all of the games there. The city of Las Vegas is reportedly one of the top locations that the league is considering.
The NBA is hoping to model the remainder of their season after what the Chinese Basketball Association is doing. The Chinese Basketball Association was forced to shut down on Jan. 24, and they are expected to resume play by the end of April.
If the NBA is going to use that timeline as their guide, then the NBA season would resume at some point in early June.
China is going to be gathering all of their teams in remote locations, and all of the games will take place in select arenas. The CBA has started to send out information to their players as to where they need to travel to for this plan to take place.
Foreign players are expected to get to these sites, and then self-quarantine before the season resumes.
The NBA could do the same thing, although it’s still unclear at this point what cities will be the safest, as the coronavirus continues to spread throughout the country. If Las Vegas was chosen, then players would begin to travel to the city at some point in May and quarantine themselves before games resume.
The city of Las Vegas has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, and this could provide some financial support to a struggling economy.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver is also weighing his options in terms of how the 2019-20 season will conclude. Teams and several key players are hopeful of making up the remainder of the regular season games, but the league is looking into a new playoff system.
There is a chance that all 30 NBA teams will be a part of the playoff field, and the playoff structure will look drastically different than it has been in years past.
Regardless of where the games take place, or how the playoff structure looks, it is expected that the remainder of the season will be played without fans in attendance.
FanDuel Only Offering One Current NBA Futures Bet
With the NBA having been shut down for over three weeks, FanDuel has removed almost all basketball betting lines from their site. The only current NBA bet still available at the site is a futures bet on which team will win the NBA Championship, assuming that the season is resumed.
Here are the current NBA Championship Future betting odds:
- Milwaukee Bucks +240
- Los Angeles Lakers +270
- LA Clippers +340
- Houston Rockets +1200
- Boston Celtics +2000
- Toronto Raptors +2400
- Utah Jazz +2400
- Denver Nuggets +2500
- Miami Heat +2700
There is a clear divide between the top three teams and the rest of the league. The Milwaukee Bucks currently have the best record in the NBA, and they are the clear favorites to win the Eastern Conference.
The Los Angeles Lakers are in line to earn the top overall seed in the Western Conference, but their crosstown rivals could have something to say about that.
The Clippers and Lakers are both getting great odds to win the NBA Championship. If the 2019-20 NBA season does resume, then FanDuel will once again be one of the best NBA sportsbooks.
