James rejects scrap call, says he's ready to roll

NEW YORK • Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James said on Thursday he is ready for the NBA to return, refuting a report some agents and team executives want the league to scrap the 2019-20 season.

The National Basketball Association halted the current campaign on March 12 after Utah's Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus.

CNBC reported on Thursday that unnamed player agents and club executives say team owners are worried about liability issues owing to health concerns and a lack of revenue from playing in an empty arena for a television audience.

But James disputed the report, saying he and his Laker teammates are prepared to finish the season when officials deem it safe to do so.

"Saw some reports about execs and agents wanting to cancel season??? That's absolutely not true," he wrote in a Twitter posting.

"Nobody I know saying anything like that. As soon as it's safe we would like to finish our season.

"I'm ready and our team is ready. Nobody should be cancelling anything."

There is about a month of the regular season remaining, plus two months of play-offs.

The NBA is reportedly considering gathering teams at hotels and playing games at sports facilities at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, a central location where access could be controlled.

It also said players could begin individual workouts and will be permitted at team facilities starting from May 8 in areas where state governments permit it, a small step on the path to resuming play. No date has been set for facilities to open.

But CNBC reported that there are NBA ownership groups which include many business partners who are losing money in other investments because of the shutdown.

As such, some teams do not see the financial incentive to restart the season when revenues would be minimal, or perhaps absent, without fans.

"Some of them are looking at vast losses outside of just their basketball team," said Andy Dolich, the former Memphis Grizzlies president of business operations.

Another team executive told CNBC: "What we are saying is, 'if we return, where is the revenue that is going to justify the additional cost of returning'?"

"They are looking at the cost side versus the revenue side. What revenue comes in now?"

Others, though, also refuted the CNBC report and clarified that there are no substantive changes being made to the NBA's plan for finishing the season at the moment.

"Once we can determine that we can keep the players and all the important personnel required to put on a game, then we'll certainly look at all the options," Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said on CNN.

"I'm cautiously optimistic we'll be able to finish a season for television, I don't expect that we'll have fans."

Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti also said that it is now "incumbent on the teams to follow (NBA) leadership".

He added: "There's not going to be a perfect solution when we're ready to play again.

"I can't give you a perfect answer. We're in uncharted territory."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS