Milwaukee Bucks: Marc Lasry lays out best-case scenario in NBA’s return

Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry made another appearance on CNBC Thursday afternoon where he laid out a best-case scenario regarding the NBA’s hopeful return this season.

Marc Lasry continues to believe that his Milwaukee Bucks and the NBA will resume their 2019-20 season.

A week after he appeared on CNBC’s ‘Halftime Report’ program where he expressed his optimism on the restart of the season, Lasry made yet another appearance on the show Thursday afternoon where he touched on all sorts of topics related to the financial impact from the coronavirus.

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Rounding out his interview with host Scott Wapner, Lasry was asked about the current timeline and where things are heading for the NBA’s potential return:

"“I think we’re opening up all of the practice facilities May 8th. And then you’ve got the local governments, who still have some stay-at-home (orders). But I think you’ll see that over the course of May and by the end of the month, every team will open up their practice facilities. And that will be the first step. And then once we can end up testing and have testing on a daily basis, I think you’ll start seeing fan-less games and you’ll start seeing them hopefully in August.”"

That’s certainly a best case scenario, especially as teams that are in states where stay-at-home orders have been eased or lifted entirely return to practice facilities starting today and under strict guidelines to get back into playing shape.

The Bucks don’t have a definite timeline for when they will open their practice facility for their players just yet, but reports have suggested that will come some time next week. That’s despite the fact that Wisconsin’s stay-at-home order currently runs until May 26, which muddles that possibility.

And the harsh reality is that Lasry’s optimistic timeline downplays the many significant hurdles that stand in the middle of the NBA’s mission to finish the 2019-20 campaign.

The factor of the limited testing that exists in North America has been a big sticking point for NBA commissioner Adam Silver as it relates to the season resuming. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported last week that the league estimates 15,000 tests will be needed to regularly monitor the health of players under any scenario where play picks back up.

There’s also the factor of all 30 NBA owners not necessarily being aligned on the 2019-20 season continuing in any shape or fashion.

According to a write-up from Nets Daily on a recent conference call made by Brooklyn owner Joe Tsai, the Bucks as well as the Los Angeles Lakers are among the most vocal about the campaign continuing while lottery-bound teams don’t hold the same level of enthusiasm:

"“The reality is everybody is still trying to figure things out with the hope that maybe we can reopen the season —the current season— because … think about this: the Los Angeles Lakers or the Milwaukee Bucks, they’re in first place when the season got suspended. There’s a chance of them going for the championship. Of course, they want to play. The players want to play. The ownership wants to play.“Then, there are other teams, if you’re in 28th place, maybe this season isn’t that important. So there’s a difference of opinion among the owners as well.”"

That’s far from a surprise from a Bucks perspective, considering what is at stake this season, and it shines a light on the logistical challenges and struggles that Silver has to oversee from a number of different directions and levels.

Bucks fans surely cling to the same hopes that Lasry holds in the season picking back up eventually, but a lot has to be done or put into place in order for his vision to be realized.