The COVID-19 pandemic caused disruption to basketball around the world, mirroring its impact across all sports. Around the world and to varying degrees, events and competitions were cancelled or postponed with limited or no spectators, and other restrictions in 2020 and 2021. The National Basketball Association (NBA) suspended its 2019–20 season due to one player testing positive from COVID-19, and began to resume the season later in 2020.
International basketball The 2020 Summer Olympics were originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, but the event was postponed to 2021 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the first such instance in the history of the Olympic Games (previous games had been cancelled but not rescheduled). However, the event retained the Tokyo 2020 branding for marketing purposes. The basketball tournament was held behind closed doors with no public spectators permitted due to the declaration of a state of emergency in the Greater Tokyo Area in response to the pandemic, the first and only Olympic Games to be held without official spectators.
By continent
Africa The launch of the inaugural season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) set for March 2020 was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. No new date was announced. At the end, the first tournament was held one year later than planned, with the season beginning in 2021. Initially the league planned to play in six venues in six countries. However, due to the pandemic the season was held in a bio-secure bubble in Kigali, Rwanda. The season began on 16 May 2021 and ended on 30 May 2021.
Asia The 2019–20 Chinese Basketball Association season was suspended on 1 February 2020. On 4 June 2020 China Basketball Association (CBA) chairman Yao Ming announced that the season would resume on 20 June without spectators.
On 14 February, FIBA ordered two qualifying games for the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup, Philippines vs Thailand in Quezon City, and Japan vs. China in Chiba to be postponed to a later date. This brought the postponed games to three, after FIBA earlier ordered the China vs. Malaysia game in Foshan to be postponed. Later that week, the Guam vs. Hong Kong game in Hagåtña was also postponed.
The Korean Basketball League canceled its 2019–20 season on 24 March, after playing its last game on 29 February. This comes as the Women's Korean Basketball League canceled its season a week before.
On 4 March, FIBA announced the cancellation of the 2019 FIBA Under-16 Asian Championship in Beirut and the 2019 FIBA Under-16 Asian Championship for Women in Canberra. It also postponed the 3x3 Olympic qualification tournament in Bangalore, and rescheduled the 2020 FIBA Asia 3x3 Cups in Changsha and the 2020 FIBA 3x3 Under-17 Asian Cup in Cyberjaya.
The 2019–20 season of the Super Basketball League in Taiwan continued despite the outbreak. When the Taiwanese government shut down all publicly-controlled arenas on 19 March, the league contemplated shutting down as well, but ended up on holding all of its games at the Haoyu Basketball Training Center. No less than 100 people were allowed in the arena at any time.
ASEAN Basketball League Several fixtures of the ASEAN Basketball League 2019–20 season scheduled in February onwards were rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic. In early March 2020, four participating teams, Alab Pilipinas, Hong Kong Eastern, Macau Black Bears and Formosa Dreamers has released statements urging the suspension of the whole season due to logistical issues posed by COVID-19-related travel measures in Southeast Asia, mainland China and Taiwan. On 13 March 2020, the league's 2019–20 season was postponed indefinitely. On 15 July 2020, the league announced that it canceled the season, without a champion being named.
Philippines The 2020 season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) and the PBA D-League was suspended indefinitely on 10 March 2020 after its first game had completed. The inaugural of the PBA's 3x3 tournament was also likewise delayed. The PBA management also imposed a two-week prohibition on team "practices, scrimmages and other related activities" which took effect on 14 March 2020.
Several leagues have suspended their tournaments on 12 March: Community Basketball Association, National Basketball League, Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League.Here's a list of sports events suspended due to coronavirus, spin.ph, 12 March 2020
On 7 April 2020, the PBA Board of Governors have decided to shorten this season into a two-conference season (later revised to a one-conference season on August) following the postponement of the Philippine Cup due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and the enforcement of the Enhanced Community Quarantine in Luzon until 30 April.PBA board decides to shorten Season 45, PBA.ph, 7 April 2020
On 17 September, the PBA Board of Governors have approved a plan to restart the season on 11 October (originally on 9 October), then was given a provisional approval by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-IED) on 24 September. All games were played in the "PBA bubble" at the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga, the isolation zone specifically created for league operations.PBA to hold 'bubble season' at Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga, Reuben Terrado, spin.ph, 17 September 2020IATF provisional clearance paves way for PBA scrimmages, games in Clark bubble, Gerry Ramos, spin.ph, 24 September 2020 The MPBL would follow suit in March 2021 with its own bubble in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, continuing its suspended 2020 MPBL playoffs.
Europe
2019–2020 season Jordi Bertomeu, CEO of the Euroleague, suspended the games from 14 March to 11 April. The Euroleague previously suspended the Eurocup. On 25 May 2020, Euroleague Basketball cancelled its competitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.
On 12 March 2020, FIBA suspended all its competitions, including the Basketball Champions League (BCL), due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 31 March, the BCL decided that the season will have to be finished with a "Final Eight" tournament planned for 30 September 2020 until 4 October 2020. The tournament was to be held behind doors in a single venue and would be a single-elimination tournament. Two games which were still not played in the Round of 16 took place beforehand. On 2 September 2020, FIBA announced that the O.A.C.A. Olympic Indoor Hall would host the Final Eight.
Lithuania, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia and Ukraine canceled outright their respective first division leagues, naming the teams in the top of the standings as champions. Top flight divisions in Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Israel, Belgium, Finland, Croatia, Greece, Poland, Cyprus, and Czech Republic suspended its games as of 14 March. The Adriatic League and the VTB United League suspended its competitions until April.
The government of Turkey suspended the Basketbol Süper Ligi on 19 March, the last major European league to do so. On 11 May, the Turkish Basketball Federation declared that the season was cancelled.
On 6 June, the Basketball Bundesliga in Germany restarted with a change in the tournament format. The nine highest-placed teams in the regular season and Skyliners Frankfurt (14th) played behind closed doors. The tournament was held at the Audi Dome in Munich. It was also decided that there would be no relegations this season.
On 17 June, the ACB League in Spain resumed. The format was changed and the top 12 teams after round 23 played the games behind closed doors in La Fonteta (Valencia) to win the championship. Relegations to LEB Oro (second tier) were revoked and the Spanish Basketball Federation approved the promotions to Liga ACB of the top two LEB Oro teams. The teams playing for the title were divided into two groups of six, playing every team in their group once. The top two teams per group qualified for the semifinals. From semifinals onwards, the teams played a single-elimination tournament consisting of two rounds. A total of 33 matches were played within two weeks.
On 21 June, the Israeli Basketball Premier League returned to action with a different format.
2020–2021 season On 22 September 2020, the Basketball Champions League (BCL) began with the qualifying rounds, before the previous season Final Eight.
In Spain, the 2020–21 ACB season was expanded to 19 teams instead of 20, including the same 18 sides from the previous season and one promoted from the LEB Oro. This was because Carramimbre CBC Valladolid did not request to join the league. As a result, this season was contested by odd-numbered teams, which meant that each regular season round one team did not play any games. FEB and ACB reached an agreement in which there would only be one team promoted from LEB Oro to Liga ACB. Also, both organizations agreed to create a support plan for the LEB Oro intended to alleviate the effects of COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to guarantee the broadcast of all the matches of the league. The total of these grants, therefore, amounted to one million euros, which were distributed evenly among the clubs registered in the league for the 2020–21 season. On February 11, 2021 the 2021 Copa del Rey started in Madrid. All matches were played behind closed doors. On May 17, 2021, the Ministry of Culture of Spain, the Ministry of Health of Spain and the Spanish High Council for Sports allowed the return of the spectators to the league arenas for the last two regular season rounds and for the playoffs with strict requirements. On June 2, 2021, the Spanish High Council for Sports allowed the general admission of the spectators for the playoffs, indicating that the maximum number of spectators was 1,000 people.
The EuroBasket 2022 qualification was also affected. FIBA Europe decided each group would play the November 2020 window games at a single venue. The same was done for the February 2021 games. Despite these measures, some matches were affected. For example, Hungary's matches against Slovenia and Austria were originally scheduled for the November 2020 window. However, they were postponed to the February 2021 window due to several positive COVID-19 tests by Hungarian players. Similarly, North Macedonia matches against Italy and Estonia, which were originally scheduled for the November 2020 window, were also postponed to the February 2021 window due to several positive COVID-19 tests by Macedonian players.
FIBA Eurobasket The FIBA Eurobasket was originally scheduled to take place between 2 and 19 September 2021, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics to 2021, it was postponed to September 2022.
North America
2019–2020 season
College On 6 March 2020, in the first round of the NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament, a game played at Johns Hopkins University between Yeshiva University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute became the first U.S. sporting event to be played without fans in attendance, after a student at Yeshiva University tested positive for COVID-19.
On 11 March 2020, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) — the main U.S. sanctioning body for college athletics — initially announced that its winter-semester championships and tournaments, including its popular men's and women's Division I basketball tournaments, would be conducted behind closed doors with "only essential staff and limited family attendance".