NBA commissioner Adam Silver says his "best guess" is that the league will not begin its next season until 2021, emphasizing that "the goal is to play a standard season."
Silver discussed the NBA's plans for the 2020-21 season amid the coronavirus pandemic Tuesday as part of a wide-ranging interview with CNN.
The NBA announced earlier this year that the tentative start date for the 2020-21 season was Dec. 1, but Silver acknowledged last month that the date was "feeling a little bit early to me."
Silver said Tuesday that the NBA had hoped as recently as a week ago that "the earliest we would start is Christmas of this year," but then said that as more virus-related information becomes available, he believes that the league will "be better off getting into January.