NBA has a plan, but also a long list of questions

In roughly a month, 22 of the NBA’s 30 teams will travel to Florida to embark on a three-month experiment — one without precedent or guarantee.

Until then, the league’s players, coaches and partners must answer a dizzying amount of questions. Some of the answers are expected to be known this week as the NBA closes on a deal with Disney to host the games on the Disney World campus in Orlando. The league also needs to set guidelines with the players union on health and wellness regulations that will spell out how much movement players will be allowed within the so-called “bubble” that would enable the NBA to finish its 2019-20 season.

Restarting play has become an exercise in flexibility and compromise. As league and team officials try to figure what the rest of the year looks like, they’ve encountered threads that lead in all kinds of unexpected directions.

The accommodations are one example. Teams will be spread across a number of on-property hotels at Disney, though before anyone can take part in anything, they’re expected to undergo a seven-day quarantine in a hotel room. After that, players will be asked to stay on campus; leaving would trigger another round of quarantine, people familiar with the situation said.

“You have to control,” one agent said. “The last thing the NBA can afford is a player or multiple players on a team not being able to play because of the coronavirus.”

The league hopes to have ways for players to keep themselves entertained. Once they’ve cleared quarantine, players will have access to common spaces at the resorts, including the pools. But for the true contenders, the grind will be too long to be broken up by a handful of days in the water.

In an effort to make what could be an epic battle with boredom and isolation more palatable, teams are exploring ways to make life “as much like home as possible” for their players, according to executives. That could mean options such as upgraded technology in hotel rooms, and the installation of better televisions and video game systems. One player agent questioned how tightly such creature comforts would be regulated by the league and, if not, how far teams with the deepest pockets or longest expected stays would go.

Stretching to find competitive advantages in such a situation might seem silly — some Orlandobound executives think it is — but improving comfort is a primary focus.

not be allowed. We should not be able to have an argument over that. It is a thick line that we can not cross anymore.”

NASCAR has not commented on Wallace’s remarks. Earlier Monday, the organization tweeted a photo of Wallace wearing an “I can’t breathe / Black Lives Matter” T-shirt before the start of Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, calling the move “a powerful statement.”

According to the Anti-Defamation League, the Confederate flag is a symbol of Southern heritage, but for others it stands for slavery and oppression, which has made it popular with white supremacist groups.

“While a number of non-extremists still use the flag as a symbol of Southern heritage or pride, there is growing recognition, especially outside the South, that the symbol is offensive to many Americans,” the organization states on its website. “However, because of the continued use of the flag by non-extremists, one should not automatically assume that display of the flag is racist or white supremacist in nature. The symbol should only be judged in context.”

Wallace acknowledged that “there’s going to be a lot of angry people that carry those flags proudly.”

“But,” he said two weeks after the death of George Floyd, “it’s time for change.”