NBA Commissioner Adam Silver woke up a week ago facing an important day. Coronavirus and the growing outbreak was the focus and dominated his meetings.

Early calls with medical experts and other contacts. A meeting with National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts at the league office. An advisory finance committee meeting via conference call. A Board of Governors conference call with team owners.

He had no idea how important the day would become, not just to the NBA but to the sports world as a whole.

By late in the day, Silver had suspended the NBA season following Utah Jazz All-Star center Rudy Gobert’s positive COVID-19 test.

Maybe out of necessity, but Silver's decision came at the right time. Six other NBA players have tested positive, including four players on the Brooklyn Nets, two-time NBA champion Kevin Durant among them.

Silver’s decision set off a chain of events that led to the postponement of several high-profile sporting events for millions of people, including the NCAA men's and women's tournaments, the NHL season, MLB's spring training and the Masters, to name a few. And the NBA’s move may end up playing an important role in flattening the curve of outbreak – a public health service that could save lives and help minimize stress on health care personnel and services.

“His action was instrumental at getting the political will and the economic will across the country over the hump, to switch us from one mode of thinking to another and get us to realize this is no longer an inconvenience and it is a national emergency,” Rishi Desai told USA TODAY Sports.

Desai is the chief medical officer and pediatric infectious disease physician for Osmosis, a digital platform for learning medicine and the health sciences.

“He helped maybe more than anyone else I can think of right now to make that mental switch. It set off this domino effect.”

Said Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr: "It took some time for everybody to come to grips with this. But the NBA coming to a halt helped a lot of people come to grips. It was one of the tipping points where society at large knew how serious this was."

Silver declined comment for this story, but three people familiar with Silver’s thinking provided insight into his decision. Those people were granted anonymity so they could speak freely about the sensitive nature of the topic.

They painted a picture of Silver’s leadership skills.

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Silver's circle of experts

Silver relied on relationships he had formed to help him understand coronavirus and its potential impact. One of Silver’s strengths, beyond his intelligence and marketing skills, is his ability to maintain connections, never knowing when someone might be able to help, one person told USA TODAY Sports.

Silver also has an influential circle of trusted confidants including former American Express CEO Ken Chenault and former Disney CEO Bob Iger.

He is constantly learning and using fact-based information to make his decisions – attributes he strengthened under former commissioner David Stern. Silver has great attention to detail and preparation and is committed to a reasoned and thoughtful approach. He can distill information and opinions to make decisive decisions.

As the health crisis unfolded overseas, Silver has been in contact with David Ho, who has had a long connection to the NBA dating to the early 1990s. Ho is a renowned AIDS/HIV research doctor who helped treat Magic Johnson after his HIV diagnosis. Ho is working on a coronavirus vaccine, a project funded by billionaire and Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma.

Silver also was in touch with Vivek Murthy, the former surgeon general under President Barack Obama. Murthy gave a medical presentation to owners at last April’s Board of Governors meeting. He also advised the NBA and NCAA on coronavirus, Silver said on TNT’s "Inside the NBA" on Thursday.

Silver was also in regular communication with John DiFiori, the NBA’s director of sports medicine, who had been in contact with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). DiFiori was tasked with gathering information from the federal government and teams who were collecting information from their local health authorities.

There is coronavirus information and data constantly flowing to Silver.

The conversation with Roberts and NBPA staffers centered on what makes sense for both sides “without compromising anyone’s safety,” Silver said.

Roberts told USA TODAY Sports: "Adam has assured me in my conversations, and, frankly, his behavior with the league, that he shares the same concerns that we do – health and safety.

... That’s the first priority. ... I can’t complain. Unless or until he deviates from that, I stand with him. We stand with him."

Then, Silver had the lengthy BOG meeting where every owner or team representative had a chance to speak. Miami Heat owner Micky Arison is the chairman of Carnival Corporate, the massive cruise lines operator. He has experience in dealing with viruses on cruises, containment of people and the financial impact.

A significant part of the conversation with Silver and owners focused on playing games without fans vs. taking a hiatus. Earlier that day, San Francisco officials banned gatherings of 1,000 or more people, and the Warriors announced they planned to play Thursday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets with no fans, just essential personnel.

“The truth is up to a few days ago or even up to (Wednesday), the experts were unclear as to whether as a public health matter NBA arenas should be emptied,” Silver told TNT.

ESPN reported two teams (Houston, New York) expressed interest in playing in front of fans until there was a government mandate. However, at least three teams (Sacramento, Milwaukee and Golden State) wanted the league to take a hiatus before Wednesday’s games were played, two people familiar with the details told USA TODAY Sports. They were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the private nature of the BOG conference call.

“The league office planned to process that information and have another discussion on Thursday,” Silver said on TV.

While no decision was made Wednesday, the consensus was that the league planned to play games with no fans.

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'I wish the decision had come earlier'

Silver was on his way home when he got a call around 8 p.m. ET informing him of Gobert’s positive test. Thunder officials delayed the game, and then Silver postponed it.

The topic of a player testing positive came up in the BOG meeting, and while there was no definitive answer, the consensus favored a hiatus. Silver also took the drastic measure to suspend the season – for at least 30 days.

“This was a split-second decision," Silver told TNT. "My thinking was even if we’re out for a month, even if we’re out for six weeks, we could still restart the season. It might mean that the Finals take place in July, late July. It was way premature to suggest that we had lost the season.”

Whether Silver recognized it at the time, he made a decision that may turn out to be a great public health decision. He helped prevent millions of people from gathering at sporting events before the government ordered it.

“He made the right decision, and in retrospect I think the only criticism I might have is I wish that the decision had come earlier,” Desai said.

“We knew this was brewing. The NBA didn’t have leadership in government telling them to do it. They took it upon themselves to do it, and I think that was remarkable. This shows NBA leadership is very strong."

Last Wednesday seems like weeks ago, and now Silver is on to his next major decision: salvaging or canceling the 2019-20 season.

Contributing: Mark Medina in Los Angeles.

Follow NBA reporter Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter.