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The NBA is making contingency plans in case the Coronavirus spreads to epidemic levels. Shams Charania of The Athletic tweeted this evening that the league is prepared to play games without live spectators to prevent the spread of the virus.
Sources: The NBA has sent a memo to its franchises explaining that, due to coronavirus outbreak, teams should be preparing to play games without fans in attendance and identifying “essential staff” present for these games -- should it be necessary.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 7, 2020
At this point, the announcement does not appear to be more than a preliminary contingency.