The NBA is in a current moment of suspension as the outbreak of COVID-19 has taken the world by storm. Countries have gone into complete lockdowns and there have been laws put into place to encourage people to stay home as much as possible.

With the current state of affairs, fans around the league are wondering when basketball will return. There were reports that the league is hoping to return in mid-to-late June, but that might not even be a realistic possibility when considering the spread of the virus and the lack of people who are taking it seriously.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski recently posted the latest episode of The Woj Pod with Andy Slavitt who is the former head of Health Care during the Barack Obama presidency. Slavitt said the reports are doing a disservice by giving hope to fans.

Slavitt said:

I think so. Look, there’s going to be a lot of political and social pressure to get the NBA to start up as soon as possible and you know what? A little normalcy would do us all some good. So, I myself, would love to see that happen, but I will tell you that, if that happens, it won’t be because it’s in our best health care interests, it won’t be because it’s in the interest of our families and country from a health standpoint, it will happen because it’s in the best interest of our country because we’re going a little nuts here…I will say the other thing is if we do a much, much better job of socially isolating, then we may have a shot. With the current rate of people who I think are a little bit dubious or if they aren’t dubious, they’re not quite 100% all the way doing the things they need to do to hashtag stay home and socially isolate, then I think you’ve got a real challenge.

Whatever happens, it would be an absolute shame for things to end this way. The Philadelphia 76ers, while they have been definitely maddening, had hopes of a deep playoff run and just had Joel Embiid and Josh Richardson return to the floor after both missed time with injuries.