Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Chris Paul said on a conference call that the players will need "at least" three to four weeks to prepare for a return to game action if the NBA decides it's safe to do so over the summer.

"I'm just letting you know -- and I don't think the league would do it anyway -- but if they were like, 'Hey, you got two weeks, and then we're going,' that's not going to happen," Paul said via ESPN's Royce Young. "That's not going to happen. Whatever the amount of time is, just know that players will have the input, the say-so, because we're the ones playing. That comes first. We don't ever want to put guys in a situation where their injury risk is higher than ever before.

"This is the thing with having 450 players in the league and being in a situation like this, where some guys have access to weight rooms, some guys don't. Some guys have access to facilities where they can train or do this or can run. That's why, whatever happens -- and I say this, and I mean this -- we always go back to the players," Paul said.

Since NBA facilities have been shut down for several weeks, a number of players, including Paul, have not had access to indoor basketball courts depending on where they have been isolating. In fact, Paul said the last time he shot a basketball indoors was before the team's game against the Utah Jazz on March 11, which was cancelled after Jazz centre Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. The league suspended its season not long after that.

ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported last week that should the league decide to return, players would go through a 25-day program that would include starting individual workouts while incorporating social distancing.