Well, that was quick. Less than 20 hours after players agreed (more or less) to go on strike, Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania have reported that the NBA players made a vote to resume the playoffs earlier this morning. Early reports are that while tonight’s games will be postponed, play could resume as soon as Friday, and will certainly be underway by the weekend.
At the moment, it’s a little unclear what has prompted such a quick turnaround from the players after their decision last night. While the strike last night was certainly impromptu, it seemed a bit too potent to cave in less than a day. Here are a few possibilities as to what happened.
- The Majority Won Out: The reporting from last night, while still a bit shaky (only the players can truly speak on everything), seemed to indicate that the Clippers and Lakers led the charge on the strike, with some support from elsehwere. Still, it seemed clear that the majority of players were in favor of continuing the season. In a straight up vote, that majority could have won.
- Sleeping On it Cooled Heads: Equally as likely is that a lot of players, who were fired up yesterday in the heat of the moment, woke up this morning and decided that while they might have issues with the bubble or the NBA’s approach to political matters, they still want to finish the playoffs. The players have already sacrificed a lot so far in the bubble, and “giving up” midway could have become unacceptable.
- Financial Implications Were Too Much: This is directly tied to 1 and 2, but it’s easy to understand that cancelling the rest of the playoffs would have massive implications. This would shake up not only the new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), but would also take money directly from the players, which is bearable for the LeBron’s of the world, but much less so the fringe players. Owners and league officials could have reiterated the financial pitfalls of stopping play, or the players themselves could have reflected on the discussions made prior to the bubble. Either way, reports of LeBron (one of the leaders last night) changing his mind today show the potent impacts of the financial considerations.
- Actual Concessions from the NBA and Owners are Coming: It seems somewhat improbable that the players were able to formulate demands and receive concessions in the condensed timeframe, but it’s possible promises were made that changes of some kind or another are in the offing. Key player representatives are meeting with league officials later today to discuss next steps, and we will see what changes might come of this. For right now, it seems like major concessions are not close to happening.
Well, that about wraps it up. Stay tuned to the big names of NBA reporting (Woj, Shams, Chris Haynes, etc.) for further updates throughout the day. For right now, it seems that with this vote from the NBA players, the playoffs will resume quite shortly.
