The NBA is gearing up to make a return this month and Commissioner Adam Silver is not overlooking any details — including player enthusiasm on the court.
Silver told Time magazine on Tuesday that the league will likely resort to tape delay over concerns that the players’ language during games will more than likely be picked up in broadcasts without the roaring sounds of fans to drown it out.
“I think there’s got to be some limits on the language,” he said. “I think often players, they understand when they’re on the floor, they’re saying certain things to each other because it’s so loud in the arena, they know a lot of it is not being picked up. They may have to adapt their language a little bit knowing what they say will likely be picked up by microphones and in all seriousness, we may need to put a little bit of a delay.”
The season is set to resume on July 30 and will take place at the ESPN Wide World of Sports campus arenas in Orlando, Florida. The schedule, which was released on Friday, is unconventional with some games starting as early as 1 p.m. on weekdays, 12:30 p.m. on weekends and most nights seeing the slate end with 9 p.m. tip-offs.
Silver said he has heard from fans about all the planning and logistics and their wishes for it to “just be about basketball,” but he says the climate surrounding the sport has changed and they’re focused on finding “a new normal.”
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“I think it’s impossible to turn the clock back. We’re part of this larger community. And we’ve got a pandemic on our hand, we’ve got enormous social unrest, clearly a recession, could get worse depending on what happens with the virus. And I think that’s why, at the end of the day basketball and sports, while it’s not completely removed from those issues in an isolated way, we’re part of society.”
Fox News’ Dan Canova contributed to this report.