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Report: NBA considering September as latest possible Finals time frame

Andrew D. Bernstein / National Basketball Association / Getty

The NBA has considered Labor Day weekend in September as a loose "drop-dead date" for the Finals, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, who adds finishing the season in late September has not been ruled out.

Team executives want the league to provide tentative contingency plans on resuming the season, but officials have been hesitant to do so, according to Wojnarowski.

Targeting September for the Finals' completion would require the season to resume by early July.

The NBA ordered all practice facilities to be closed last Friday, nine days after the league suspended play due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. The facilities would have to reopen weeks before the eventual resumption of play in order to help return players to game shape.

It is still not known how the league's usual summer schedule will be impacted. The NBA's fiscal year ends June 30, with free agency following. The NBA draft is still tentatively scheduled for June 25.

With NBA players now free to leave their markets but remain inside North America, the league has set up testing and treatment protocols in cities where NBA players live - including one in Las Vegas, a source told Wojnarowski.

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