Wednesday 15 April 2020 09:56, UK
Damian Lillard said he favours a single-game knockout playoff format to complete the 2019-20 NBA season.
Lillard's Portland Trail Blazers were ninth in the Western Conference with a 29-37 record - one place outside the playoff places - when the NBA suspended the regular season on March 11 after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for coronavirus.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has said no decision regarding the resumption of the season will be made until May 1 at the earliest.
In an interview with Inside the NBA host Ernie Johnson, Silver was unable to offer a timeline for when games could potentially restart. "What I've learned over the last few weeks is we just have too little information to be able to make those sorts of projections," he said.
All options, including a cancelled season, a shortened season that jumps into the playoffs or finishing the full scheduled slate, remain on the table, according to Silver.
Lillard remains optimistic the season will resume and believes a knockout tournament featuring all 30 NBA teams would provide a fast, entertaining conclusion to the truncated campaign and ensure minimal disruption to the 2020-21 season.
"I think when the season does come back I feel that it is only right that teams get a chance to make a playoff push like ourselves, give us a chance to get in, or some type of tournament-style where it is fair," he said.
"It is obviously going to be a different situation than it has ever been (before). So maybe they should do something that has never been done or something that is going to make this year unique.
"I think they should do something like an NCAA tournament with every team. Single-game elimination all the way up until maybe the Conference Finals or something like that, then a three-game series just so we don't get to start the (2020-21) season off track next year.
"They could get creative. If there is any time to get super-creative then people will be tuned in and excited about it with everything that is going on, this is the time."
Lillard has been locked down since the league suspended play and, like many NBA players, has focused on helping people in his local community. On April 1, he donated $100,000 to the Trail Blazers' coronavirus relief fund.
"I have honestly been just sitting round, trying to stay active, doing stuff to try and stay in shape and sitting in the house and just waiting. I haven't been seeking out extra information, all that stuff.
"It is more concerning to me the people who are out of work, trying to keep their heads above water."
