Report: Silver bracing teams for possible delayed start to 2020-21

Find out the latest on COVID-19's impact on the sports world and when sports are returning by subscribing to Breaking News push notifications in the Sports and COVID-19 section.

With no fixed return date yet for the 2019-20 NBA campaign, the COVID-19 pandemic is increasingly likely to alter next season as well.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver has been preparing teams for a potential delayed start to the 2020-21 campaign, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Beginning next season in December and ending it in late July or August has garnered support, sources told Wojnarowski.

Some personnel within the league have publicly endorsed tipping off NBA campaigns during the holiday season.

At the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in early March, Atlanta Hawks CEO Steve Koonin reasoned that a December start date would boost the league's ratings by limiting its direct competition with the NFL and college football.

"Many times, at the start of the NBA season, we are competing with arguably the best Thursday Night Football game with the NBA on TNT, our marquee broadcast, and we get crushed, and we wonder why?" Koonin said.

"It's because at the beginning of the season, there's very little relevance for the NBA. The relevance is now. That's when people are talking about it," he added.

Houston Rockets guard Eric Gordon opined earlier this month that Christmas may be a more beneficial start date.

Silver has yet to determine the fate of this season, though he has said no decision would come down until at least May.

The NHL, which runs on a similar October-to-April regular-season schedule, is also reportedly considering starting its 2020-21 season in December.