Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia speaks to the media during the NFL combine on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020, in Indianapolis. Detroit Free Press
As logical as it seems now, with North American sports essentially shuttered indefinitely, it couldn’t have been easy for the NBA and commissioner Adam Silver to put its billion-dollar business on hold in an instant Wednesday night.
Give the league credit for doing so as soon as one of its players, Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, was diagnosed with COVID-19.
The NBA is often at the forefront of social initiatives, at least relative to its professional sports counterparts, and its immediate action to suspend its season triggered leagues like the NHL and Major League Baseball, not to mention college sports’ governing body, the NCAA, and the Michigan High School Athletic Association, to follow suit.