Silver confirms players can sit out: Restart not for everyone
NBA commissioner Adam Silver understands the unease among some players regarding the league's tentative plan to restart in July.
During an interview with ESPN's Mike Greenberg on Monday, Silver confirmed earlier reports that there would be a provision that allows players to opt out from joining their teams in Orlando.
"My sense is we're going to be able to work through most of those issues over the next few weeks," Silver said, according to The New York Times' Sopan Deb. "But as I said, we also have an arrangement with the players' association where if a player chooses not to come, it's not a breach of his contract. We accept that."
Earlier this month, the NBA's board of governors and the players' association each voted to pursue a plan in which 22 teams would continue the 2019-20 season at a single-site campus - the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World. Players would remain on-site, with limited guests only joining the cohort following the first round of the playoffs.
"As we work through these issues, I can understand how some players may feel that it's not for them," Silver said.
He added, "It could be for a host of reasons. It may be for family reasons, it may be for health reasons they have or it may be because they feel, as some players have said very recently, that their time is best spent elsewhere."
Any player who voluntarily sits out will reportedly forfeit a portion of his salary based on missed games.
Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving has reportedly assumed a leadership role in opposition to the league's planned restart, due in part to the country's ongoing focus on social justice reform as well as the disparity in salaries between the NBA's stars and the rest of the league.
While Irving is currently injured and unlikely to play again this season, he is also a vice president on the NBPA's executive committee. Recently, the 28-year-old has helped organize calls in which fellow players have expressed their own reservations.
Portland Trail Blazers All-Star Damian Lillard told ESPN that he's concerned about the NBA's plans but ultimately expects to play out the season.
"I don't feel 100% comfortable," Lillard said, according to fuboTV's Julie Stewart-Binks. "But it's a risk I'm willing to take."