Inside The Portland Trail Blazers: NBA at Standstill

The NBA suspended its season until further notice on March 11 after an NBA player tested positive for the coronavirus. In the following days March Madness was cancelled along with the NCAA spring season. Other major sports leagues followed suit by postponing their seasons. To get some perspective on the sports world and how it’s been affected by the coronavirus I talked with Travis Demers the Portland Trail Blazers radio play by play announcer recently to talk about this unprecedented time we find ourselves in. “It’s fascinating to see how everything develops,” Demers said. “Before we had the shutdowns of the season, Jusuf Nurkic was going to be making his return. As soon as the start of that game with the Jazz and Thunder got postponed. That was a major moment in American history, because a lot of the sports leagues knew this was a really big thing. It was decided that the safety of everyone was most important. Most of the nation is in lockdown and quarantine. You hear of people who aren’t well. It’s an unusual time but this is so far beyond sports, it’s to keep everyone as safe as we can and help those are who hurting right now.” Before the NBA season was suspended the Trail Blazers had 16 games remaining and were 3 1/2 games behind Memphis for the 8th and final playoff spot in the western conference. “You’ve got a shot. The first game was against Memphis. There has been a rough go at it, but we still have time and still have hope,” Demers said. “We don’t know because they didn’t play Memphis yet. All of these opportunities, after all of this, there was still hope with the players and coaches. We had a great opportunity with a month left in the season. All of its just gone and fans don’t know what to do with themselves.” Trail Blazers owner Jody Allen and the team, created a relief fund of $1.4 million that will support people and organizations impacted by the coronavirus including paying part time employees for nine postponed games. “Part time employees or seasonal employees have been covered,” Demers said. “They’ve all been taken care of. It’s amazing what Jody Allen has done and what the organization has done to make sure people are taken care of.” Demers who grew up in New York and lived in Long Island during 9/11 looked at the positives of this situation and how the coronavirus pandemic has brought people closer. “There is a lot of good that has come from it,” Demers said. “Being gone so much, I’ve been around my family for the last two weeks. The similarities to 9/11 are people are coming together. The community feeling, it takes a tragedy to come together. It makes this country feel small, with the generosity to help those in need. It’s really special to see the community feel, people looking out for each other and supporting local businesses. It’s special and it will fade away and someday again will get another reminder to be better to our neighbors and loved ones. This is the thing that brings people together and it’s special to see.” Photo Credit: Portland Trail Blazers.