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Look, we all want sports back as soon as possible. Around these parts, we especially want the NBA season to return so that a champion can be crowned, but I think we’d all take just about anything at this point.
The problem, however, is that it’s just not logical for us to expect that to really happen anytime in the very near future. There are countless hurdles to pass over before we really can even get serious about sports coming back, but ESPN’s Brian Windhorst did a great job yesterday explaining the biggest hurdle.
Windhorst on ESPN says the only way the NBA is coming back is with mass testing that provides quick results and doesn't require taking tests away from people who need them
— Trevor Lane (@Trevor_Lane) April 6, 2020
This is, and I cannot stress this enough, the ONLY way the NBA is coming back anytime soon, in any form or fashion.
Now, I’m no doctor or politician or anyone else who may have better, inside information, but I have a hard time believing that we will be able to satisfy BOTH of those requirements any time soon.
First, we simply need enough tests to go around in this country which we haven’t proven capable of quite yet.
The second hurdle is much larger, though. How many extra tests do we need to have sitting around to rationalize testing each NBA player every time they walk into the facility? How realistic is that? As much as I’d love to have the NBA back, there’s no sense in testing LeBron James eight times before other people who may be symptomatic can get tested at all.
I hate writing things like this. I want there to be hope, and I want the NBA back.
I also want us to stay healthy and get the resources we need to help the people who are sick, and are inevitably going to get sick.
Stay inside, wash your hands, and maybe, just maybe, we can get some real basketball on our televisions again this summer.