The NBA is "fairly optimistic" they will be able to return to its traditional schedule of starting in mid-October and ending in June in time for the 21-22 season.
The 20-21 season began on December 22nd after The Finals concluded in mid-October due to the multi-month suspension of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I'm fairly optimistic at this point that we will be able to start on time, and that we have roughly half of our teams have fans in their arenas right now," Silver said. "If vaccines continue on the pace they are, and they continue to be as effective as they have been against the virus and its variants, we're hopeful that we'll have relatively full arenas next season as well."