This year has been pretty interesting, especially for the NBA. On March 11th, Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus, which shocked the whole NBA world. He was the first ever pro US athlete to catch COVID-19, which caused the NBA to shut down.

Now that two months have passed, NBA teams are starting to open their practice facilities again, possibly giving fans hope for a season comeback. On June 4th, Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner, announced that the season is going to come back on July 31. However, the concept is going to be different; only 22 NBA teams can play.

They are going to be playing in Orlando, Florida, with restrictions, to continue being safe. Currently, there is the Black Lives Matter movement, which the world is fighting for. Most players are excited for the season to come back, but there are some who don’t think a comeback is a great idea.

As said, not all of the NBA players seem to agree with this idea. There are some players that participated in this movement like Russell Westbrook, Demar Derozan, Danny Green,
Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and etc. There are players in the National Basketball Player association who had a discussion about the comeback. Kyrie Irving, a player from the Brooklyn Nets, and Louis Williams, player from the Los Angeles Clippers, had something to say about this comeback. Joshua Kim, a 13 year old, believes that the NBA shouldn’t continue with the pandemic because the virus is not going to end soon.

His claim is a common view of mostly everyone, which makes sense. Hajin Kim, a 15 year old, also believes that the NBA comeback isn’t a good idea because of COVID. Louis Williams stated, ”Sports is a distraction.” With the virus and the BLM movement, he believes that the NBA should not come back as of right now because of how dangerous it is and that sports, in general, can take away the focus of fighting for black lives. Kyrie Irving believes that it seems suspicious and doesn’t support the comeback at all. He is willing to give up everything in order to make the change. The NBA allowed the players to have a choice to sit out without consequences.

In conclusion, the NBA season comeback has both positive and negative outlooks. I believe that the NBA season is also a bad idea because with the BLM movement and COVID 19. But, I am very excited that it’s coming back because I’ve been very bored without the entertainment from the NBA. If you were the head of a professional sports organization, what would your option be?

Jacob Kim/ Rowland HS 11th Grade