• Shaquille O’Neal thinks it’s time to give up on the current NBA season.
  • O’Neal said that “there’s an asterisk” with any team that wins a title this year, and that the NBA should simply “scrap the season.”
  • The NBA season has been on pause since mid-March after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert testing positive for COVID-19 but slowly moved towards a potential comeback.
  • On Friday, several teams opened up their practice facilities so that players could take part in socially distanced workouts.
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Shaquille O’Neal says the NBA should give up on the current season due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has left the sports world in limbo.

“I think we should scrap the season,” O’Neal told For The Win. “Everybody go home, get healthy, come back next year. Just scrap the season. Just scrap it.”

O’Neal argued that even if the league were able to resume play, the likelihood of an abridged postseason would leave the eventual winner with a championship that came with an asterisk.

“To try and come back now and do a rush playoffs as a player? Any team that wins this year, there’s an asterisk,” O’Neal said. “They’re not going to get the respect. What if a team that’s not really in the mix of things all of a sudden wins with a new playoff format? Nobody is going to respect that. So, scrap it. Worry about the safety of the fans and the people. Come back next year.”

The NBA season was suspended in mid-March after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. Since then, the sports world at large has been put on hold, with events from the Masters to the Kentucky Derby pushed back until the fall.

O'Neal isn't the only one who thinks the NBA should proceed with an abundance of caution. While some NBA teams opened up their practice facilities last week for players to take part in socially-distanced workouts, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said that his team wouldn't open its facilities until mass testing was available.

"The problem obviously is because we can't test people, then we can't assure anybody's safety, whether they're basketball players or anybody else," Cuban said. "And even though we can try to take all different types of precaution, it's just not worth it, particularly when our guys are staying in shape, and going outside and shooting on outdoor hoops, and working out in various ways. I just don't think the risk is worth the reward."

Cuban had faith the league would be able to find a way to play out the year, in contrast to O'Neal's call to give up on the current season.

Not everyone agreed with Shaq's assessment of which path the NBA should take. Lakers forward Jared Dudley argued that the NBA should find a way to play safely and carry out the season.

It's still not clear whether or not the NBA will be able to resume its season this year, but as we approach two full months without basketball, things would have to start moving pretty quickly if this year's postseason is to finish without affecting the start of the 2020-21 campaign.

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