Lakers superstar LeBron James says he is open to resuming NBA play without fans in the stands
When the NBA suspended its season last month, LeBron James said: ‘I ain’t playing if I ain’t got the fans in the crowd’. With the league’s shutdown entering a second month, has he modified his stance?
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NBA superstar LeBron James’ stance on playing basketball without fans has softened, the LA Lakers gun promising the “line of communication is open” to get the season restarted once the coronavirus threat to players has been neutralised.
When COVID-19 shut down the NBA last month, James was definitive he would not play if fans were not able to attend.
“We play games without the fans? Nah, that’s impossible,” James said at the time.
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“I ain’t playing if I ain’t got the fans in the crowd. That’s who I play for.
“If I show up to an arena and there ain’t no fans in there, I ain’t playing.
“They can do what they want to do.”
But James now says he is ready to get back on the floor as soon as it’s safe to do so.
“Obviously, the No.1 thing is the safety and wellbeing of all of us … first and getting this pandemic under control and I believe once that’s under control and they allow us to resume some type of activity, I would love to get the season back going,” James said.
“Will there be another game this year with NBA fans in the stands? I truly hope so, I don’t know, but I truly hope so.
“If it comes to a point where we are playing without our fans, we still know that we still have Laker faithful with us in spirit, they be at home cheering us on online, on their phones on their tablets, watching us playing.
“Hopefully we can bottle that energy, that loyalty that they’ve had, not only this year, but since the Lakers have been in LA.”
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said this week the league was in “listening mode” and did not expect a decision to be made on a resumption date until at least May.
One of the reported options is for the NBA to stage its playoffs and post-season at one location — Las Vegas — allowing for tighter controls and quarantines.
James spent 14 days in quarantine at home with his family — the time spent with wife and children a silver lining to the shutdown — only leaving to practice at friends’ indoor courts.
“I’m not able to go to facilities … pretty much everything is closed, but I’ve got a couple of friends who have their own indoor facilities where they pretty much strip it down, wipe it down and it’s just me in there, along with my son (LeBron Jr), my son been training with me, we’ve been getting work in, but it’s just us,” he said.
James said he had not even had contact with his trainer, Mike Mancias, instead using the time at home to train family.
“I’ve been the Mike Mancias of the household, running the training regiments with myself and my wife and my kids as well, that’s been pretty cool,” he said.