Photo: Courtesy of NBA China

 
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Monday the league would not "jump the line" for the COVID-19 vaccine as the league prepared to tip off its new season amid a surge in coronavirus cases across the US.

Speaking on a conference call ahead of the start of the 2020-21 season on Tuesday, Silver emphasized that the NBA would "wait our turn" to obtain the vaccine, which began to be administered for the first time last week.

"It goes without saying that in no form or way will we jump the line," Silver told reporters. "We will wait our turn to get the vaccine."

Silver said he hoped NBA players and staff would eventually play a role in helping to assure the public of the benefits of getting the vaccine.

"It's my hope that when we are eligible, members of the NBA community will want to get vaccinated and it's our plan to be involved with governmental efforts in terms of public messaging as to the benefit of taking the vaccine," he said.

The NBA was shut down for four months last season as the pandemic swept across North America before resuming in July with teams based in a protective quarantine bubble in Orlando, Florida.

However, the new season will take place with teams playing in their home markets, a move that represents myriad logistical challenges for the NBA and its 30 teams amid skyrocketing COVID-19 cases in many states.

Silver said playing an entire season in a bubble-like campus environment was deemed to be "untenable" but insisted he was confident of health and safety protocols put in place to mitigate the risk from the virus.

NBA chiefs have only released a schedule of games for the first half of the abbreviated 72-game season, and will finalize the second half of the calender at a later date.