The Chinese Basketball Association has been working for weeks toward a potential resumption of play, but that is not going to happen for at least another two months.
ESPN’s Jonathan Givony reports that CBA officials met on Monday night and decided to postpone play until at least July. The league was put on hold due to the coronavirus outbreak on Jan. 24, and there was previously optimism that play might resume as early as mid-April. The Chinese government issued an official order last month delaying that, though the order did not indicate when the restriction might be lifted.
No final decision can be made without clearance from the Chinese government, and Givony reports that the league will not get that until mid-May at the earliest. While CBA officials were previously informing players that there are no plans to cancel the season, it’s no longer a given that it is going to resume.
One complication for the CBA is that several players have been prohibited from returning to China, as an entry ban on all non-citizens of the country has been in place since last month. There are around 40 American players who play in the CBA, and a previous report claimed CBA officials were making some serious threats against players who did not return in time for the resumption of the league.
Other sports leagues will be closely monitoring the CBA to see if and when they resume play, so the fact that they have decided to postpone until at least July is not good news.
