Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry made yet another appearance on CNBC Thursday afternoon and laid out a timeline for the NBA’s rumored return.
Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry has been on the front lines of providing optimism for the NBA returning to action since the 2019-20 season was suspended over two months ago.
Lasry was back at it again Thursday afternoon as he once again appeared on CNBC’s Halftime Report and laid out some more details that are obviously in the works as the league continues to ramp up talks of restarting the season.
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When asked by host Kevin Stankiewicz about the growing momentum that has been reported on the NBA’s efforts to resume the season, Lasry gave an inside look in the process and the overall timeline to resuming the campaign:
"“I think we’re getting a lot closer. We have a Board of Governors call next Friday and I’m sure we’ll be talking about it then. But I think with players coming back, I think right now, the momentum seems to be shifting and I think we’ll have something, hopefully within the next six to eight weeks, we should be playing.”"
We’ve seen reports in recent days regarding the locations that are being worked out to continue the season and house players and Walt Disney World in Orlando is being seen as the leading contender as The Athletic’s Sam Amick and Shams Charania ($$) first reported.
Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry believes NBA will likely resume across two sites, one in the East, one in the West.
When followed up with a question on whether the NBA’s plans will be contained to a single site where the health of players can be regularly checked and action can be played, Lasry laid out a scenario in which each conference would be split between Las Vegas or Orlando:
"“I think it will literally be one or two sites, just to make it easier for everybody. I think it will probably be two sites. Maybe the West on the Vegas side and the East on the Orlando site.”"
Of course, that’s provided that the league intends to finish out the regular season as constructed, under that scenario, while the idea of potential alterations to how long the season will be have also been floated out in recent reports and could further impact where games are played.
Lastly, when pressed about how different it will be crowning an NBA champion under these circumstances, and all of the hurdles the NBA has to clear to continue the season, Lasry feels there should be no difference in who eventually wins it all and how it will be seen historically:
"“It’s going to feel great. You know, look at it this way, if you win, it feels great. Yeah, everybody’s going to talk about ‘Well, it was difficult. It was different, it was without fans.’ Yeah, but then you’re still an NBA champion. You’re still the champion and I think the ratings will be through the roof. Everybody’s going to want to see it. So will it be different, yes. But you’re still going to feel great…So my prediction is that we win it. But then again, I’m biased.”"
Lasry’s optimism on the Bucks realizing their title hopes aside, the fact that we’re even talking about an NBA champion being crowned shows how far along the chances of the season continuing in some fashion have come. Now we’ll have to see when these continuing efforts become a reality.