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Adam Silver announces that NBA players who don’t return for summer restart won’t be penalized

The NBA Commissioner also acknowledged that teams are

69th NBA All-Star Game
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged that players are concerned about a restart of the season due to many issues in the United States. But he also believes that the NBA can be a platform for social issues as well.
Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

On Monday night, ESPN hosted a special featuring Commissioners from the NBA, WNBA, NHL, MLB, NFL and MLS on restarting sports. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver tried to strike a tone between empathizing with players who want to address social issues and/or are concerned with their health, and the need to get toward a new normal where society learns to coexist with the coronavirus.

I’ll leave his explanation on threading the needle below.

One of most notable things Silver mentioned was regarding any player on one of the 22 teams going to the season restart in Orlando, Florida. If a player on one of those teams decides not to go to Florida, he will not be penalized for it.

It will be interesting to see how the league works with the player’s union on working out issues ranging from player safety to using their collective platform to promote social causes.