NBA issues strict guidelines
Here’s some of what awaits NBA players going to Disney next month: game rooms, golf course access, cabanas with misters to combat the heat, fishing areas, bowling, backstage tours and salon services It sounds like vacation.
The NBA described very specific plans to players and teams for the restart yesterday, doing so in a memo and handbook both obtained by The Associated Press.
With safety being of the foremost importance during the coronavirus pandemic, players were told they will be tested regularly – but not with the deep nasal swabs – and must adhere to strict physical distancing and mask-wearing policies.
The league and the National Basketball Players Association have been working on the terms of how the restart will work for weeks, all while constantly seeking advice from medical experts including Dr Anthony Fauci, perhaps the best-known physician in the United States when it comes to the battle against Covid-19.
Most teams will arrive in Florida on July 7, 8 or 9.
Nobody on the NBA’s Disney campus, which has been loosely described as a bubble, will be allowed in anyone else’s sleeping room.
The NBA also told players and teams that it will work with one or more outside health care companies to provide a medical clinic with X-ray and MRI capability on the campus — critical, since in theory the league would not want players and team staff leaving and potentially facing coronavirus exposure by going outside of the Disney property for such exams.
The league’s plan also spells out how training rooms and meeting rooms will be utilised, the procedures for practice-court usage – three-hour blocks per team, all scheduled, with one open hour in between sessions for cleaning and sanitising – and even how team and player laundry will be handled.
The NBA is planning on games in three arenas during the seedinggame portion of the restart, the ones where each of the 22 teams going to the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex will play eight games before the playoffs begin. Teams will be housed in three hotels, with six to eight teams in each.
Other plans the NBA has for the restart include mental health professionals being available for players and coaches; pregame chapel services, done virtually; yoga and meditation; three meals a day and four meals on game days; and restaurant availability.
Teams can bring up to 35 people as part of the basketball operations group, which includes players, a senior executive, an athletic trainer, a strength and conditioning coach, an equipment manager and security.