Jared Dudley Sends Ecstatic Message After Announcement of NBA Return Date

Friday’s news that the NBA is targeting July 31 as the date for the league’s return to complete the 2019-20 season brought an enthusiastic response from Los Angeles Lakers forward Jared Dudley.

The league abruptly shut down play on March 11 after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the novel coronavirus, with the subsequent pandemic keeping all sports on the sidelines for the next few months.

During the course of the shutdown, the NBA continued to look at all angles of a possible return. That included assessing different potential locales to play games, testing protocol to be used for players, officials and other game personnel and the overall state of the pandemic situation.

The Lakers are one of the teams most eager to get back on the court, considering that they had the best record in the Western Conference at 49-14 when play was suspended.

Dudley and his Lakers teammates were on target to get the franchise back into the postseason for the first time in seven years. That accomplishment was something that the team was hoping would be the first step toward winning the Lakers’ first NBA title in a decade.

Exactly what form the NBA return takes is yet unknown, but Dudley and others now have a target date that will motivate them to get back in prime physical condition for the road ahead.