Coronavirus and the world of basketball
Mar 23, 2019; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; General overall view of Wilson official NCAA basketball with the March Madness logo on the court during a second round game of the 2019 NCAA Tournament between the Baylor Bears and the Gonzaga Bulldogs at Vivint Smart Home Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
We are living through one of the biggest crises in the last decades. The coronavirus is everywhere and the impact that this virus has can be seen in every field, especially in economy and sport.
We all love basketball and, unfortunately, we won’t be able to see our favorite team for many months. Everybody talks about washing hands, flattening the curve, and social distancing so that’s what is happening right now all over the globe.
The athletes are supposed to be examples in society so it’s pretty clear that they have to be the first to respect the regulations imposed by the governments. But this means that all sports are currently on hold, all leagues are suspended or canceled, and the worst part is that we don’t know how long this will take.
So, let’s see what is the situation of basketball in the world.
Almost a week ago, the NBA decided to suspend its season and by doing so they started a huge trend. In less than 48 hours, almost every other basketball league was suspended or canceled.
Some federations took some drastic decisions. For example, Lithuania, Ukraine, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina are some countries that decided to cancel their seasons and to give the title to the first team in the standings.
An interesting situation is faced in Australia where the finals were canceled after three games. The National Basketball League announced that they will decide in 48 hours the future champion.
Also, NCAA tournaments, G League season, and some FIBA competitions were canceled.
In the meantime, almost every league is suspended until further notice. There are many federations which are discussing the cancelation of the season because they won’t be able to pay their players for much longer.
However, the Italian Basketball Federation president said that they would like to finish the season. A bold statement if we consider that Italy is the most affected country in the world, after China.
Also, the NBA wants to resume their season even if this means that the Finals will be played in August. Japan restarted the action and China will do the same in 15th of April.
Even though the majority of the leagues were suspended or cancelled, some federations decided to keep the basketball going. For example, in Turkey, United Kingdom and Russia the games are still scheduled.
It will be interesting to see what happens in a few weeks, but it is clear that the situation is really bad. I don’t see how basketball can continue in Europe considering that we didn’t get to the top expansion of the coronavirus pandemic.
*photo: USA Today
