COVID-19 frustration bubbles over in European basketball

Europe's top basketball league features teams from 10 countries navigating COVID-19 cases, international travel restrictions and last-minute postponements. It makes the NBA bubble look like a walk in the amusement park.

NBA great Tony Parker's team in France has played only half of its scheduled games in the EuroLeague. The chaotic start prompted Milan coach Ettore Messina on Monday to call for suspending the season until March or April.

“As for now, the only logical choice seems to be to put on hold the European competition and allow the national leagues to finish their season(s) in the next four months since in-country traveling will be easier,” Messina, a former assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs, wrote in an open letter.

The 18-team EuroLeague — like soccer's Champions League — is a season-long tournament between the continent's top clubs who also play domestic schedules. The league canceled its 2019-20 season in May.

International tournaments could resume in March or April, Messina said, when the coronavirus might be under control “or shut down.” They could finish in time for Olympic preparations, he added.

Adding the EuroCup, Europe's second-tier basketball competition, 15 countries are represented. That doesn't count separate FIBA competitions.

The NBA is targeting a Dec. 22 start for its next season, in what would be a quick turnaround for the NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers and Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat. The league finished last season in a bubble at Walt Disney World.

Before the EuroLeague's season launched this month, league president Jordi Bertomeu said there was a Plan B that includes a bubble for a worst-case scenario. But on Monday, the league said it is not entertaining Messina's proposal.

“We fully respect Ettore's...