Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry optimistic 2019-20 season will continue
Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry appeared on CNBC Thursday afternoon and expressed his optimism that the 2019-20 NBA season will continue in July or August.
As the NBA continues to weigh its options with the coronavirus pandemic disrupting their 2019-20 season, Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry remains vocal that it will continue on down the line.
Whether it was his appearance on The Full 48 podcast with Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck in March or elsewhere, Lasry has been one of the more vocal NBA owners to discuss where the league stands during this strange time without basketball and whether there is hope for the season resuming.
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Now, Lasry made an appearance on CNBC’s Halftime Report program on Thursday afternoon where he reiterated his belief that the 2019-20 season will continue at some point in the coming months as Kevin Stankiewicz of CNBC rounded up:
"” I think there’s a lot of unknowns, but my opinion is that we will end up having a season, we’ll have the playoffs. But that’s going to be a while away and the question is that in July or is that in August?I think we got to get back to everything being open, so I think the NBA is, a number of facilities are going to be opening on May 8. I think for somebody like the Bucks, it’s going to take longer because we gotta comply with the stay-at-home order. But that’s okay. You need to get started, so I think some teams will have a little bit of an edge, but that’s life.”"
The topic of teams getting a head start in being able to return to their practice facilities with proper guidelines and precaution has surfaced over the last week as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported late last month with some states that have NBA teams lifting stay-at-home orders.
As of now, that doesn’t include the Bucks as Wisconsin governor Tony Evers extended the state’s stay-at-home order to May 26.
But according to Lasry, what may be an advantage for some NBA teams in those states that are easing up on stay-at-home orders is a necessary move to make to continue the season, along with the NBA’s opportunity to seize on this strange moment with the public’s demand for live sporting events again:
"“Yeah you will, but I think we need to do that. I don’t think we can wait for everybody to be at the same time frame. You know, if the goal is you want to end up having a season, let’s get things opened, let’s get people getting back in shape. And then we’ll figure it out, come July or August, what we can do in finishing the season and finishing the season without fans because what’s clear is people want to see sports. You’re seeing it with The Last Dance where you’re having record earnings. You saw it with the NFL Draft where you had record viewers, so I think as you have that, people want to see sports, so I think we’ll end up finishing the season.”"
To that point, Lasry’s comments about resuming the season in some fashion only reinforces how many within the league have felt about this season, despite some reports to the contrary.
As Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times detailed Thursday afternoon, the NBA is still holding out hope in finishing the regular season with all 30 teams, not just playoff teams, picking up play as among the avenues they may look to finish out the year. And as The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported on Wednesday night, the Walt Disney World resort in Orlando has been identified as an ideal location that can fit all of the protocol needed to resume action.
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A lot is on the line as the NBA continues to debate their best course of action, along with the rest of society with everyone’s lives affected by the pandemic. And plenty of challenges still remain to be answered before we see play tip off again. Stay tuned for any and all updates on this front.