Just last week, Jared Dudley was confident the NBA return this year, so the Lakers can continue down the road to their first championship since the 2010 season.
Once the NBA shut down all practice facilities due to the corona virus, Dudley’s confidence has sank faster than the stock market.
“Once I heard the news of no more practice facilities, if that goes for a month or month-and-a-half to two months, I find it almost impossible to then have a season because now you’re telling a professional athlete, ‘For 60-to-80 days you’ve done no training.’ I’m not optimistic right now at all for a season to be honest with you,” Dudley told Fox Sports Radio.
“Unless something happens here in the next 30 days where they open back up the facilities. But how do they do that? Once everyone starts getting tested, you’re going to hear more and more cases because it’s a very common thing to get.”
The NBA would already be playing deep into the summer, which means teams would need to start again for the 2020-21 season in December.
So far, there are two Lakers who have tested positive for COVID-19, but they are asymptomatic, which means they have not shown any typical symptoms such as fever, dry cough or achiness. They are currently being quarantined and attended by team physicians according to team sources.
