The NBA’s slogan for its return-to-play is “A Whole New Game” and indeed the first scrimmages showed that. There were 22 teams, not 30, not 16. There were no fans in the stands, players on the bench were socially distant and other than the players, everyone wore masks. “Black Lives Matter” was emblazoned on every court. Announcers were back home taking an NBA feed. Team introductions? Forget about it. No national anthems either, at least for the scrimmages.
And of course, the product was not what you’d expect. Stars were missing — home dealing with a positive coronavirus test or an injury, or in a nearby hotel, sitting out the quarantine protocol.