NBA players association president Chris Paul remains adamant players want to be on the court.
The Oklahoma City Thunder guard is optimistic the season, which has been suspended since March, can be resumed but admits the NBA will have to make “a lot of hard decisions” along the way.
“With the team around us, I think ultimately we’ll get to where we want to,” Paul told ESPN.
“Obviously we want to play. Oh man, we want to play. We want to play bad. And I think that’s a consensus for the guys around the league. We want it to be, obviously, as safe as possible. But the biggest thing is, we miss the game.”
Paul and the Oklahoma City Thunder (40-24) are in position to participate in the play-offs. There is some debate over how the post-season could play out if the NBA is unable to resume the regular season.
“I think it’s a combination of a lot of things,” he said. “But at the end of the day, right now, no one expected this and knew that this was coming.
“So what is normal now? So I think that’s what we’re trying to figure out is what it looks like, and until we find those answers and we can come up with an actual plan, right now it’s basically sit and wait, so that the virus is in control.”
Paul and NBA commissioner Adam Silver co-hosted a conference call with players one week ago to discuss how to find answers to elusive health questions. Most of them cannot be addressed with certainty.
“I don’t have the answers,” Paul said. “I don’t have all the answers. But I know that people are working tirelessly, trying to figure it out.”