CAN CHRIS PAUL SAVE THE NBA? STATE FARM WOULDN’T INSURE IT

The usual playoff appeal has given way to major injuries and attrition, a direct consequence of a short offseason and condensed calendar as pushed by the commissioner. Will anyone watch the Finals?

     Imagine an NBA Finals where one team suits up a ballboy, a security guy, the national anthem singer and two sausage vendors, while the opponents completely give up and summon the Harlem Globetrotters as replacements.

     Think I’m goofing? Every time a player jumps, cuts, squeaks a sneaker or draws a breath, you wonder if anyone will be left to play a Game 7 in three weeks. It’s cool to see Chris Paul finally reach the championship round with the Phoenix Suns after 16 years, telling the crowd at his former home, Staples Center, after becoming the oldest player to score 40-plus points in a closeout game: ‘‘Damn, this feels good. Just a lot of emotions, a lot of shit going on.’’

     But can Paul’s career perseverance, coupled with the rise of the obscure Valley Suns, keep America interested in July? And, more to the point, can he stay healthy? What’s happening in the league right now isn’t basketball as much as a nightly injury minefield, and if the commissioner is cursing his bad luck, he should be fining himself millions. In attempting to protect his league’s bottom line, Adam Silver did far worse damage to the health of his superstar pool — the reason people watch the sport, right? — and the appeal of a postseason gone wrong.

     Insisting on launching the current season only 71 days after the Bubble season ended, then deciding to pack months of games into a condensed calendar, Silver is suffering the consequences of his careless decision. The Eastern Conference finals hinge on whether Giannis Antetokounmpo or Trae Young can recover more quickly from significant injuries, which might leave the winner with a crippled leader in the Finals. And what are the chances of a Bucks or Hawks team avoiding a Phoenix rout? When ABC posts images of players in its Finals promo graphics, I’m picturing Paul or Devin Booker … with Kevin Huerter or P.J. Tucker.

     As America goes for a collective walk on a post-pandemic summer night.

     Damn right LeBron James got it straight. The NBA is stuck with an injury mess of its own doing, a postseason sabotaged by attrition. The playoff absence roll call looks like an All-Star Game: Antetokounmpo, Young, Paul, Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid, Donovan Mitchell, Jamal Murray, Jaylen Brown, Kemba Walker. Would the Lakers have charged through the Western Conference playoffs with a healthy Davis? Would the Brooklyn Nets have dominated the East with a healthy Irving and Harden? A Finals involving those mega-market teams, both loaded with starpower, might have meant big ratings and business for the league and its broadcast partners.

     Now, you’re looking at a weaksauce Finals where even Booker, so electric before breaking his nose, didn’t reclaim greatness until the Game 6 clincher, after girlfriend Kendall Jenner fled to Paris (OK, I’m not sure the two events are connected). Suddenly, James’ upcoming premiere of ‘‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’’ might one-up the Finals in interest. Hey, LeBron told you so. Cut and paste this in the 2020-21 NBA season summary:

     ‘‘I knew exactly what would happen,’’ James wrote. ‘‘They all didn’t wanna listen to me about the start of the season. I only wanted to protect the well being of the players which ultimately is the PRODUCT & BENEFIT of OUR GAME! These injuries isn’t just ‘PART OF THE GAME'. It’s the lack of PURE RIM REST rest before starting back up.

     ‘‘This is the best time of the year for our league and fans but missing a ton of our fav players ... If there’s one person that know about the body and how it works all year round it’s ME! I speak for the health of all our players and I hate to see this many injuries this time of the year. Sorry fans wish you guys were seeing all your fav guys right now."

     What, Bryn Forbes isn’t your favorite guy?

     And if I’m not ready to agree that this season deserves an asterisk, talk to me after a diluted, perilous Finals that not even State Farm would insure. Paul, who shills for the company in those ubiquitous TV commercials, probably agrees.

     Next time a collective bargaining agreement is negotiated, the players will fully remember their sacrifices — even after reluctantly signing off on the quick-trigger start. Because Silver, in demanding a season tip-off during the December holidays, banked $1 billion in TV money that wouldn’t have come for a January start. The league also made a record $1.46 billion in sponsorship revenue, reports Front Office Sports, adding 13 new partners despite the ragged, disrupted season. Continuity is Silver’s end game, knowing the NFL commanded $113 billion in new TV rights. He wants $75 billion for nine seasons, possibly before the current package expires in 2025. The players will love that jackpot, but they’ll want a larger piece after falling like army soldiers this season.

     ‘‘I know all about the business side too/factors so don’t even try me! I get it,’’ wrote James, who might be retired as a player by then but never as a social media commentator.

     These aren’t high times for a league that must rediscover its sizzle and relevance. A simple coaching hire can’t be made without an uproar, such as in Portland, where Chauncey Billups was a solid basketball choice by the Trail Blazers — but a flammable public-relations call in a small, isolated market teeming with activism. In 1997, while playing for the Celtics, Billups and teammate Ron Mercer were accused of sexual assault by a woman. Criminal charges weren’t filed, but the woman did receive an undisclosed settlement in 2000. Billups has maintained for two decades that his sexual relations with the accuser were consensual — the case didn’t stop ESPN from hiring him as an analyst or the Clippers from hiring him as a broadcaster and assistant coach — and he was willing to talk when asked this week at his introductory news conference.

     ‘‘Before I even talk about my role with the team and me being the head coach, I first want to talk about ... the incident that happened in 1997," said Billups, who was 21 at the time. ‘‘Not a day goes by that I don't think about how every decision we make could have a profound impact on a person's life. I learned at a very young age as a player, but not only (as) a player but (as) a young man, a young adult, that every decision has consequences. And that's led to some really, really healthy but tough conversations that I've had to have with my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time in 1997, and my daughters about what actually happened and what they may have to read about me in the news and the media.

     ‘‘But this experience has shaped my life in so many different ways. My decision-making, obviously. Who I allow to be in my life, the friendships and relationships I have and how I go about them. It's impacted every decision I make and it's shaped me in some unbelievable ways. I know how important it is to have the right support system, particularly in tough, difficult times."

     The Blazers conducted an investigation of the case — hiring a former FBI investigator for a deep dive — and indicated satisfaction with Billups’ all-consensual stance, from team chairman Jody Allen on down. But lead executive Neil Olshey erred, horrendously, in not allowing follow-up questions to Billups. In a moment that demanded complete transparency, Olshey refused when asked to provide details about the probe, saying, ‘‘That’s proprietary. So you’re just going to have to take our word that we hired an experienced firm that ran an investigation.’’

     When another reporter addressed Billups, wanting him to elaborate on how the case impacted his career and life, Olshey motioned for a public-relations servant to cut off the question. ‘‘We appreciate your question. We’ve addressed this,’’ the flack said. ‘‘It’s been asked and answered. Happy to move on to the next question.’’

     The scene smacked of a naked cover-up. And it only invites the local and national media to dig deeper, which might prompt the disgruntled Blazers star, Damian Lillard, to demand a trade. Billups’ hiring came at the expense of Spurs assistant Becky Hammon, who was interviewed twice by the Blazers in her quest to become the first female head coach in major North American sports. Allen endorsed her, but Olshey, who has longstanding ties with Billups, won in the end. Is it possible Hammon, as reported by Bleacher Report, didn’t receive high marks from Spurs higher-ups? When the team’s legendary coach, Gregg Popovich, has been her most ardent public supporter? Or was the report a plant by the Blazers to counter criticism from the pro-Hammon crowd?

     If nothing else, the NBA always has quieted the dramas with wonderful, electric postseasons. But there are no goosebumps this time, only bumps and bruises, breaks and sprains, tears and hyperextensions, MRIs and civvies. This just in: One of the sausage vendors ruptured his Achilles.

     See you at ‘‘Space Jam 2.’’ Hope Daffy Duck is wearing a knee brace.

     Jay Mariotti, called ‘‘the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes sports columns for Substack and a Wednesday media column for Barrett Sports Media while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts in production today. He’s an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and radio talk host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects. Compensation for this column is donated to the Chicago Sun-Times Charity Trust.