Paris (AFP)
The basketball tournament of the Tokyo Olympics will not be deprived of the stars of the NBA despite the very short time between the finals and the Olympics in the summer of 2021, the International Basketball Federation (Fiba) assured Wednesday.
"Even in the worst case scenario, the NBA season will end before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games," Secretary General Andreas Zagklis insisted on Wednesday during a press conference.
The NBA and the players' association (NBPA) have indeed reached an agreement in mid-November to avoid a superimposition of the North American calendar, shifted due to the pandemic, with the Olympic basketball tournament.
The regular season is reduced to 72 games, compared to the usual 82, to allow the NBA Finals to end no later than July 22, which is the day before the opening ceremony of the Games and just four days before the start of the tournament. Men's Olympic Games, July 26.
"If the NBA final goes until Game 7, there will indeed only be a few days before the tournament, admitted Andreas Zagklis. But 85% of NBA players will be available from the Olympic qualifying tournaments (from 29 June to July 4, editor's note). "
“And even in the worst scenario (that of a match 7, editor's note), everything will be over before the opening ceremony,” he insisted.
If the two competitions do not collide head-on, the time between them is extremely short and raises the question of the presence of certain players.
Especially since the latter will have already experienced the shortest truce in the NBA with only 71 days between the end of the 2019-2020 season and the 2020-2021 fiscal year, which begins on December 2.
Concerns swept away by Andreas Zagklis on Wednesday: "The reactions that go back from all players, including those playing in the NBA, is that the Olympics are one of the most significant moments of their careers," testified the secretary general of the Fiba.
© 2020 AFP