It could also spark an all-out brawl with the players’ union. The league’s collective bargaining agreement allows the N.B.A. to reduce player salaries by 1/92.6th for each game missed because of, among other things, epidemics.

The league, which brings in billions of dollars each year, would take a sizable hit in lost revenue from ticket sales, concessions and television contracts.

“I think the N.B.A. is moving at a better rate than our government is,”

There is “an uneasiness” among players about “how quickly the virus can spread,”

N.B.A. officials insisted they had been discussing contingency measures for at least two months

“Upon learning that one of our players tested positive for Covid-19, we immediately took the unprecedented step to suspend the season,” Bass said

“This thing is so scary,” Barkley said Thursday night, participating in the broadcast by phone. He added that he was secluding himself for 48 hours.

encourage the cancellation of the N.C.A.A. men’s tournament.

Within 24 hours, the other major North American men’s sports leagues had followed the N.B.A.’s lead and suspended (N.H.L. and M.L.S.) or altered (M.L.B.)

league should wait for more direction from local government agencies before committing to next steps.

was putting the season on a brief hiatus and playing into the summer to crown a 2019-20 champion

For the last decade, the N.B.A. has been ascendant, with a highly marketable crop of talented young players, rising television ratings and high-quality competition

The N.B.A. is grappling with an unsettled present as well as an uncertain future

“at least 30 days.”

Commissioner Adam Silver

eams across the league who have recently crossed paths with the Jazz are going into self-quarantine

Gobert’s teammate Donovan Mitchell, also an All-Star, tested positive for the coronavirus as well.

LeBron James,

This season was already a strong contender to rank as the most dispiriting ever, following a preseason dispute with the Chinese government and the sudden deaths of David Stern, the former N.B.A. commissioner, and of Kobe Bryant, the former Los Angeles Lakers superstar.

less than 40 days before its playoffs were to begin. The league now faces perhaps the biggest, and most fluid, crisis in its history.

“Obviously I didn’t expect it,” Cuban said on Thursday in a phone interview. “Nobody did.”

N.B.A. made the bombshell announcement that it was suspending the season because Rudy Gobert, an All-Star center for the Utah Jazz, had tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Confident that the league had not come close to reaching that point, Cuban responded with an estimate of 5 to 10 percent.

“paid the rent directly, paid for the car to be fixed or in some cases given money directly to students that doesn’t violate their financial aid. If they are in an emergency and they need help, they don’t need bureaucracy. That’s our approach.”

“Within 24 hours we have a solution,”

Preliminary findings from these efforts indicate that some of the least expensive and most efficient programs partner with public welfare agencies — like housing authorities and federal nutrition assistance offices — that already provide services to the disadvantaged. And they take into account how limited student funds really are.

by way of rental subsidies, temporary apartments or rooms in the homes of hosts who live near the campuses.The students are also receiving financial planning assistance, academic support and mental health counseling.

a Los Angeles-based housing provider for homeless youth

But so far, most campuses, even those hardest hit by student homelessness, have failed to provide broad solutions, in part because those solutions are costly, and because there is limited research on what the best fixes actually are

And some offer free laundry service, dinners and snacks during the day. A handful have even instituted their own free car park programs, even though the state fell short, this past summer, of requiring it.

To rectify this, most California community college campuses now have food pantries, like the one at Palomar, offering groceries, toiletries and sometimes school supplies and clothes. California law requires community college campuses to provide showers for homeless students.

Ms. Hernandez works in her school’s food and nutrition center, handing out produce, bread and canned goods, often to friends.

“A more accurate description is that these are people who are very much on their own,”

public confusion over who attends these two-year institutions.

the vast majority who don’t have cars they can rely on.

cost the state close to $69 million a year

Mayors sparred in local newspapers over whether it would help or hurt their towns.

Soon after, a bill that codified the plan passed in the State Assembly.

can get rest, be near bathrooms and avoid illegally parking in unsafe places far from campus.

To help, Mr. White has become one of their fiercest advocates, pushing community colleges in California to open parking lots at night, so students who spend at least some nights sleeping in their vehicles

with those who attend community colleges hit the hardest

and he was once kicked out of a Lowe’s for brushing his teeth in the bathroom.

he’d slept in his car.

This article is part of our latest Learning special report. We’re focusing on Generation Z, which is facing challenges from changing curriculums and new technology to financial aid gaps and homelessness.