It’s the conversation no one really wants to have. What if the NBA can’t come back this season? What does a lost season mean for the contenders?

For the Milwaukee Bucks, it could be an unmitigated disaster. The East is wide open for them in 2020. But with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant due back next season and other contenders sure to improve, along with Giannis Antetokounmpo a year closer to free agency, things start to look bleak for the Bucks just a year down the road.

Paul Pierce believes a loss of this type of opportunity might not be something the franchise recovers from in the short term.

“[It would be] devastating. You don’t get these kinds of opportunities often…the window is right now for the Milwaukee Bucks,” Paul said. “If I’m Giannis I’m devastated if we don’t get to finish this season. These windows, they don’t come around too often, championship windows. There’s is now and who knows what might happen next year.”

The came can be said for the Los Angeles Lakers who entered the COVID hiatus with the best record in the West and LeBron James playing at an MVP type level. But LeBron is 35 and it’s hard to know how many seasons like this one he has left.

That coupled with likely improvements by other teams as well makes it impossible to know if the Lakers will have a similar opportunity next year. That’s why LeBron is making it clear he’s not ready for this season to be canceled. 

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Saw some reports about execs and agents wanting to cancel season??? That’s absolutely not true. Nobody I know saying anything like that. As soon as it’s safe we would like to finish our season. I’m ready and our team is ready. Nobody should be canceling anything. 👑</p>&mdash; LeBron James (@KingJames) <a href=”https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/1255912096929165312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>April 30, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

Paul also understands where LeBron is coming from. being that his legacy could be made by another title.

“He doesn’t want any of these legacy seasons to go to waste. The Lakers have an opportunity. They’re in prime position to possibly win a championship. And this being [potentially] LeBron’s third team to win a championship, we might be talking about him and Michael Jordan in the same breath.”

Watch Paul, Kendrick Perkins and Rachel Nichols discuss it below and watch The Jump weekdays at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN.