Last night, around 200 NBA players got together on a Zoom call to discuss the return of the NBA season. The call was led by Kyrie Irving and it is being reported that he was making arguments as to why the players shouldn't return. In addition to not liking the bubble city plan, Irving says there are more important things than basketball right now and that the players should be focusing on social justice reforms instead.
According to Shams Charania, there were some star players on the call who also voiced similar opinions. Among them were Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, and even Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz. Following this revelation, Mitchell came out and refuted Charania's reporting, saying "stop it."
https://twitter.com/_/status/1271630387542982656
Clearly, Mitchell seems offended at the notion that he doesn't want the league to return next month. Of course, the Jazz have quite a bit to lose here as they were in the thick of the playoff race in the Western Conference. They are a team with a lot of dark horse potential and it would behoove them to restart the season and potentially surprise a few people.
At this point, it seems as though there are contradicting reports on how the players really feel. Over the next few weeks, we will get a better sense of whether or not the players are actually on board with returning to action.
