Mystery NBA Executive Proposes Summer Timeline for Resuming 2019-20 Season

Baseball's path to launching its 2020 season is suddenly beset by snags and squabbles, but what about the NBA? We were getting into the meaty part of the regular season's cavalry charge when COVID-19 shut the whole league down, and while some strong voices have called for the 2019-20 season to be ended offiicially, the movers and shakers are attempting to find ways to pick the season back up and eventually crown a champion.

Per insider Keith Smith, one unnamed league executive has a calendar laid out to squeeze in the rest of the delayed campaign, have an offseason, and start up the 2020-21 season by Christmas.

Now THAT is ambitious! There's no context for whether this blueprint is something that's actually been considered by a broader group of NBA owners or the players' union, or if it's instead just the brainchild of one person inside one franchise. Either way, the determination to get basktball back on the hardwood is admirable.

Seriously, who wants to declare this season dead in the water without crowning a champion? Try explaining that to Lakers, Clippers, or Bucs fans and see how they react.

We're still some ways away from lifting our various quarantines, and a lot must be done to secure usuable venues and adopt health and safety measures across the board for the resumption of the campaign. But even in this early stage, the ambition is encouraging.

With enough luck, basketball will be back in our lives even sooner than the MLB, a reality that would have felt patently outrageous even a few short weeks ago.