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NBA News and Notes: Still No Clear Path For Return

The coronavirus pandemic continues to plague professional sports in the United States. Many sports leagues, including the NBA, find themselves in limbo as the nation tries to get the pandemic under control.

Despite the temporary shutdown, there is still plenty of news in circulation as it relates to the NBA. Let’s take a look at some of the stories from this past week:

No Clear Return Date In Sight

According to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press, NBA commissioner Adam Silver has indicated that there is still no clear understanding of when, or if, the NBA will resume. At this point, the NBA seems to be keeping all of its options open.

These options seem to include things like returning with no fans, working much later into summer (and subsequently starting next year’s season a little later), or even the possibility of an outright cancellation. Still, the hope is that we can get back to basketball in some form to finish the season.

In the meantime, the NBA announced that the players will have their paychecks reduced by 25% starting May 15. With no games, there is no revenue, and the reduction of pay is one way to help offset some of that. This was agreed on between the NBA and the Players Association.

Could Elite Prospects Start Skipping College?

It is not too long ago that players were able to go straight from high school to the NBA. Think Kobe, LeBron and Dwight Howard.

All three of these players, amongst others, made the jumps. Today, that is not a possibility as players must wait at least one year before entering the NBA Draft after high school.

In what has become a one-and-done mentality, most players choose to go to an elite college for name recognition and then make the jump to the draft. Last year it was Zion Williamson enjoying a fantastic season at Duke before becoming the number one overall pick for the New Orleans Pelicans.

It appears there may be a new option, though. Jalen Green, Rival.com’s No. 2-ranked high school player in 2020, is bypassing college and instead is signing with the NBA’s G-League for the upcoming season.

The deal is going to pay Green well north of six figures (something he would not have gotten in college) and will allow him to continue to develop in hopes of being the top pick in the 2021 draft.

This seems to be a fascinating opportunity for elite prep athletes. The opportunity to play stateside (some have chosen in the past to play overseas for a contract as opposed to college) while also being paid handsomely for their services is an opportunity that more and more high school athletes could take.

If that was the case, it could considerably hurt the play and marketability of the NCAA, so Green’s level of success (likely assessed based off of his draft positioning) could have a huge ripple effect.

Conley Wins H-O-R-S-E Competition

It certainly wasn’t as captivating as a true NBA game, but in a day and age where sports fans are yearning for any sports content, the NBA H-O-R-S-E competition was at least moderately entertaining. In the final, it was Utah Jazz guard Mike Conley who came out victorious, beating the Chicago Bulls’ Zach LaVine.

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