At last check, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he didn’t see his league resuming until January of 2021 at the earliest.

Now we’ve got Shams coming out and reporting that NBA is looking at a December 22nd return:

The rescheduled Tokyo Olympics are set to begin on July 23rd, so the NBA would have to wrap it up before then.

At ESPN, Woj is reporting this along with Zach Lowe and Brian Windhorst:

The NBA’s board of governors is meeting Friday and is discussing possible changes to plans for the 2020-21 season, including starting as quickly as possible, playing fewer than 82 games and not waiting for fans to be permitted to all league arenas, sources told ESPN.

There has been some discussion among owners about starting as soon as Christmas Day to take advantage of that historically prime NBA showcase, sources said. Numerous teams contacted by ESPN over the past several days weren’t sure such a timeline was feasible. Others have been pushing for a start around Martin Luther King Day weekend in mid-January, sources said.

December feels early, doesn’t it?

For our purposes, right now in Philadelphia there’s a 10% limit on indoor seating for arenas with a 10,000 or greater capacity. The Wells Fargo Center holds 19,500, so there would be a max of 1,950 people in the building, which includes players, coaches, staff, media, and fans. The number of actual fans allowed would be something like 1,500 or fewer.

Stay tuned.