NBA To Approve December Start as Danny Green Backtracks

After much deliberation, it’s expected the NBA will begin the 2020 – 2021 season on the earlier date of December 22. 

The board of governors and NBPA are set to hold individual conferences on Thursday to approve the decision.

Players had voiced concerns about starting so soon after the longest season in history. Although, it looks like financial considerations trumped those concerns in the end.

Los Angeles Lakers star Danny Green caused a stir when he said that the veterans on the team wouldn’t show up if the season began in December rather than January. It appears that Green has been given a talking to. 

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Danny Green has backtracked majorly on those comments, insisting that he was ‘joking’ and has been taken out of context.

It speaks to a strong preference in the league to start the season before Christmas due to the monetary impact.

A start date of December 22 compared to late January is worth an additional $500 million – $1billion to the league. The NBA has already lost $1.5 billion due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with little hope fans can return to arenas any time soon.

“We’ll all show up for work. I’m not speaking on or for anybody. I was just joking saying certain guys — not just LeBron, we have a lot of vets on our team — and we prefer not to start Dec. 22,” said Danny Green.

Read: Adam Silver Must Act Fast on NBA Season Start Date

”… We have a lot of guys with eight-plus years, 10-plus years (of experience) on our team. To do a long season like we had, regardless of how long we had in between, we still finished at a date and to start up a month-and-a-half later, or two months later, is tough. But we will show up for work, so don’t take it out of context, and I’ll speak no more on it, but we hope that we get a little more time to relax and rest and give our bodies a chance to recover before we start back up again.”