The NBA wants its teams to prepare to play fanless games if necessary due to the coronavirus crisis, but LeBron James already says he won’t be playing basketball in an empty arena.
The league issued a memo to its teams on Friday telling them to prepare in case it becomes necessary to play matches without fans or media, as the sports leagues in Europe have already done. The memo details potential actions that teams may need to take “if it becomes necessary to play a game with only the essential staff present.”
But when James was asked about the possibility after scoring 37 points in his Los Angeles Lakers 113-103 win over the league leader Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night, the NBA’s top active scorer was final.
CLICK HERE FOR A FULL COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUSES
“Are we playing games without the fans?” No, it’s impossible, ”said James. “I don’t play if I don’t have the fans in the crowd. That’s why I play. I play for my teammates and I play for the fans. So that’s the whole story. So if I introduce myself in an arena and there are no fans in there, I don’t play. They can do whatever they want. “
We play games without the fans? No it’s impossible. I don’t play if I don’t have fans in the crowd. That’s why I play. I play for my teammates and I play for the fans. That’s the whole story. So if I show up in an arena and there are no fans in there, I don’t play. They can do whatever they want.
The memo, obtained by the Associated Press, states that teams should identify the arena team and people who would be required to organize games and be able to communicate quickly with non-essential personnel, as well as with the holders of tickets and business partners.
TUCKER CARLSON: TO PROTECT AGAINST CORONAVIRUS AND OTHER THREATS, THE US MUST BECOME LESS DEPENDENT ON CHINA
Teams must also be prepared for the possibility of implementing temperature controls on players, team staff, referees and anyone else essential to the conduct of such a match in the arena. ‘team”.
The content of the note was first reported by The Athletic.
CORONAVIRUS: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
The letter also states that teams should plan scenarios in which the media could attend matches as part of the revised media policies.
The league had previously sent a note to teams this week offering 10 recommendations to players in the hopes of reducing the risk of contracting the virus – among them, not taking items such as pens, markers, balls and jerseys autograph researchers.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
An NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament game on the campus of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, was played Friday in an empty gym in what was supposed to be the first sporting event American fanless due to coronavirus, although a COVID NCAA -19 advisory panel said it “does not recommend the cancellation or public spacing of sporting and related events scheduled to occur in public spaces across United States.”