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Fears surrounding the possible Coronavirus pandemic have continued to rise. Events are being cancelled and whole cities in Europe are experiencing lockdowns like never before. Whether it is warranted or not, havoc is slowly taking over the world. Following the postponement of the No Time To Die release – one of the biggest cinematic events of 2020 – new proceedings for the NBA have now come to light, after it advised teams to prepare to play without a crowd in attendance.
In a memo obtained by CNN, the league told teams to identify “actions required if it were to become necessary to play a game with only essential staff present.” But according to the NBA, the league office is the only authority to decide if a game should only be played behind closed doors. When asked about the protocol on Friday evening following a Lakers’ 113-103 victory against the Milwaukee Bucks, LeBron James was not happy about the potential move.
LeBron James on possibility of NBA playing games behind closed doors because of coronavirus. LeBron: “I ain’t playing” if there are no fans pic.twitter.com/kpHg6bsFYO
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) March 7, 2020
“We play games without the fans? Nah, that’s impossible,” James told The Associated Press. “I ain’t playing if I ain’t got the fans in the crowd. That’s who I play for. I play for my teammates, and I play for the fans. That’s what it’s all about. So if I show up to an arena and there ain’t no fans in there, I ain’t playing. They can do what they want to do.”
The memo in question also suggested other ways of protecting its athletes and staff including, “implementing temperature checks on players, team staff, referees, and anyone else who is essential to conducting such a game in the team’s arena.”
Stay tuned for further developments.
