The NBA sent a memo to all its teams, revealing that there's a chance that regular season games will be played without fans in the arena due to the coronavirus.
LeBron James wasn't a fan of this, and revealed that he won't play in empty arenas.
“We play games without the fans? Nah, that’s impossible,” James said. “I ain’t playing if I ain’t got the fans in the crowd. That’s who I play for. I play for my teammates, and I play for the fans. That’s what it’s all about. So if I show up to an arena and there ain’t no fans in there, I ain’t playing. They can do what they want to do.”
“We play games without the fans? Nah, that’s impossible. I ain’t playing, if I ain’t got the fans in the crowd, that’s who I play for.
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 7, 2020
—LeBron James on the possibility of playing games without fans in attendance due to concerns from the Coronavirus pic.twitter.com/E3Yb41YfCK
According to the NBA, An NCAA Division III men’s basketball game at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, was played in an empty gym in what was believed to be the first U.S. sports event held without fans because of the coronavirus.