NBL grand final series cancelled: Sydney Kings upset after league backflips on alleged promise
The Sydney Kings are devastated after the NBL seemingly backflipped on a promise to award no winner if coronavirus interrupted the league’s five-match finals series.
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The Sydney Kings are devastated after the NBL seemingly backflipped on a promise to award no winner if coronavirus interrupted the league’s five-match finals series.
The Kings on Tuesday made the tough call to withdraw from the series against the Perth Wildcats, which Perth led 2-1, due to the rising threat of the coronavirus.
Adding salt to the wound, club officials maintain that both the NBL and Wildcats agreed that if the coronavirus interrupted the series, neither team would be crowned the winner.
But now the NBL appears to have gone back on this alleged promise and may announce a championship winner within 48 hours.
Australian basketball legend Andrew Gaze said it would be morally wrong for the NBL to award a winner if all parties came to such an agreement.
“If they had a gentlemen’s agreement between both teams, that we won’t declare a winner if we can’t finish the series, then there shouldn’t be a winner,” Gaze said.
The remaining games of the NBL Grand Final Series have been cancelled, with a decision on the outcome of the championship to be determined in the next 48 hours.
— NBL (@NBL) March 17, 2020
#NBL20 has been, and will always be remembered as incredible. We'll be back, bigger and better in #NBL21 pic.twitter.com/qEvpniTGiP
“If all three parties were there and all three parties agree to it.
“It would be wrong for the NBL to backtrack on something they agreed to. I don’t believe they would do that … that just doesn’t make any sense to me.”
While Gaze understands why the NBL may be inclined to award the series to leaders Perth, given the circumstances, he said he wouldn’t crown either side.
“I would say let’s just put a line through it, look at all the good things that happened through the regular season and declare Sydney Kings and Perth Wildcats dual champions.”
The NBL is denying there was any agreement between all three parties that no series winner would be declared if the finals could not be completed.
However, sources at the Kings are adamant this was verbally raised and agreed to after a series of meetings last Thursday and Friday in the lead-up to game two.
“We agree to disagree (with the NBL) on this,” a Kings spokesperson said. “And the decision taken today was more important than a game of basketball.”
The NBL also offered to speed up the series by rescheduling games four and five (if necessary). However, the Kings declined after only being informed of this option 20 minutes before last Sunday’s tip-off to game three.
In an emotional media conference on Tuesday, Kings chairman Paul Smith said the players had concerns over continuing the championship series during the global uncertainty and effects around COVID-19.
“I sat in a room today with men, grown men who are professional athletes, and I saw a rawness that I didn’t know if I’d ever seen a room,” Smith said. “Where people expressed concerns for their well-being more primarily for their families.”
It is understood that two Kings players have immediate family members currently under cancer therapy. Smith said that Kings imports are also fearful of being shut out from returning to their families back home to the States.