The 2020 Tokyo Olympics have been postponed and will now open on July 23, 2021. The Games will run through August 8th.

This will give NBA players a greater probability of participating in the Games.

There were scenarios in which the Olympics could be held in the spring and overlap with the 20-21 NBA season. Depending on when the 19-20 season ends and the 20-21 season starts, the Olympics could merely overlap with the later rounds of the playoffs.

The International Olympic Committee is targeting a July 23rd opening date for the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics.

The I.O.C. said that a decision was coming in the next several weeks, though an announcement could be made much earlier.

The new opening date is identical to the 2020 date, partly due to NBCUniversal's broadcasting schedule. NBCUniversal paid more than $1 billion for the U.S. media rights.

The I.O.C. were also mindful of steering clear of soccer's European Championship, which usually take place in June.

Jerry Colangelo and Gregg Popovich remain committed to Team USA into 2021 after the Tokyo Olympics were officially postponed.

"The commitments everyone made for 2020 are still there; we're all-in and we're committed," Colangelo said. "It's important to deal with the unknowns and this virus. This too shall pass, and we'll be back for everyone's well-being."

The NBA's potentially altered schedule cause their season to overlap with the Olympics. 

"We will follow the leader. We have to wait to see how everything is laid out and we'll make the adjustment," Colangelo said. "Our players are NBA players first, let's face that."

Team USA could be comprised of players from NBA teams who have already been eliminated from championship contention. 

"Changing the window for the NBA is easier said than done. There's a lot of logistics and contracts to deal with," Colangelo said. "Same for the Olympics. You have to assume it will be around the same dates."

The International Olympic Committee and Japan have agreed to officially postpone the Tokyo Olympics.

The games will now be played in the summer of 2021.

The decision became inevitable after the national Olympic committee in Canada announced on Sunday that it was withdrawing from the Games, and Australia’s committee told its athletes that it was not possible to train for this summer under the widespread restrictions in place to control the virus.

The United States urged the IOC to postpone on Monday.

The Olympics have only previously been canceled due to war and have never been postponed.

Veteran International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound has said the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be postponed due to COVID-19.

“On the basis of the information the IOC has, postponement has been decided,” Pound said in a phone interview. “The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know.”

The details of the postponement will be worked out over the next four weeks.

“It will come in stages,” said Pound, 78, the longest-serving IOC member. “We will postpone this and begin to deal with all the ramifications of moving this, which are immense.”

Pound expects the Olympics to moved to 2021.

A decision on whether to postpone the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo will be made within the next four weeks.

The games are scheduled for July 24-August 9.

"The IOC will, in full coordination and partnership with the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, the Japanese authorities and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, start detailed discussions to complete its assessment of the rapid development of the worldwide health situation and its impact on the Olympic Games, including the scenario of postponement," the IOC said as part of a lengthy statement. "The IOC is confident that it will have finalised these discussions within the next four weeks, and greatly appreciates the solidarity and partnership of the [national Olympic committees] and [international federations] in supporting the athletes and adapting Games planning."

Sunday's statement is the first one on the record from the IOC affirming that the Olympics could be postponed.

The probability of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics continuing as scheduled this July and August decreases by the day, according to a former Team USA executive.

“A day ago or a week ago, I might have said 50/50 chance, but I think we’re zooming toward 20/80, and really 1/99,” Rick Burton, a sports-management professor at Syracuse University and the former chief marketing officer of the U.S. Olympic Committee, said on the Bloomberg Business of Sports podcast. “As each day goes by, and more and more people unfortunately succumb to this illness, it gets harder and harder to imagine that the Olympics can take place.”

Organizers have publicly insisted the games will go on as planned.

Earlier this week, an IOC member said that holding the games as scheduled would be “insensitive and irresponsible.”

The total budget for the games, including infrastructure upgrades around Japan, is more than $22 billion.

Steve Kerr said the Team USA staff are continuing to plan as though the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be held.

Kerr said he has been in contact with Team USA head coach Gregg Popovich in recent days.

"Pop and I have spoken a couple of times over the last week or so," Kerr said Tuesday during a conference call with reporters. "And everything's just up in the air. There's no sense of whether things are going to be delayed or anything. We're all kind of sitting here wondering what's going to happen, and so is the rest of the world. We're just going to plan as if this is going to happen, and we're going to try and put together a roster, and that's all we can do."

Gregg Popovich said he would only consider picking Kevin Durant for the U.S. Olympic team roster if Durant were fully healthy.

Durant's business partner Rich Kleiman floated the idea of Durant playing in this summer's Olympics earlier this week.

"My feeling on that is that I would want Kevin to be absolutely ready to go, working out, playing 5-on-5, that his organization and he both feel like it's time to play. I wouldn't want to be any part of him being 60% or 70% and just starting to get in shape because of the Olympics. The Olympics are important, it's huge, but he's got a career to take care of here with the Nets. I would rather have him do that if he's not totally ready to play this summer," said Popovich.

Durant won gold medals in the 2012 and 2016 summer games.

The basketball portion of the Olympic begin in July, giving Durant 13 months of recovery time since tearing his Achilles. 

Matisse Thybulle said he was excited at the possibility of playing for Australia at the 2020 Olympics. 

The 22-year-old, a dual citizen, was born in the U.S. but moved to Australia for 7 years early in his childhood. 

"I think it will be an exciting opportunity. My Australian passport is up-to-date. My citizenship is still active," said Thybulle.

Thybulle said he would make his final decision on whether to play in the Olympics at the end of the NBA season.