NBA PLAYERS GET USED TO LIFE IN BUBBLE AS OPENER NEARS

Kings forward Harrison Barnes was en route to Orlando to join his team inside the NBA bubble Friday after clearing COVID-19 protocol in Sacramento.

Kings coach Luke Walton said Barnes had recovered from COVID-19 and was on a flight to Orlando. Barnes will be required to quarantine in his room until he tests negative for COVID-19 twice over a span of at least 24 hours, a process he has grown familiar with in recent weeks.

“He finished his Sacramento protocol, so he is on a flight to Orlando now,” Walton said following Friday’s practice. “We’re happy to be getting him in here and then he’ll have to start his two-day quarantine once he gets here and pass that protocol before he can join us on the court, but (it is) a big step for us as far as getting him out here.”

Barnes will not be available when the Kings scrimmage the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday or the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday. However, Walton is not ruling out the possibility of Barnes being ready when the Kings play the San Antonio Spurs on July 31 in the first of eight seeding games at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando.

“We’re going to evaluate him when he gets here,” Walton said. “We’re going to be smart about it, but Harrison was probably the guy working the hardest building up to when he tested positive. So we’ll see where he’s at and do some physical testing, but if he’s ready to play that first game, he’ll play . ... As long as his baseline is at a certain level, I think he’ll have enough time to be ready for that first game, but we’ll have to wait and see.”

Barnes tested positive for COVID-19 over the Fourth of July weekend, days before the Kings departed for Orlando to resume the NBA season at Walt Disney World Resort.

Barnes said he was “primarily asymptomatic,” but it took more than two weeks to test negative twice in a row, as required under COVID-19 protocols.

Barnes is in his second season with the Kings after being acquired in a midseason trade during the 2018-19 season. Sacramento signed Barnes to a four-year, $85 million contract in June. He started all 64 games before the NBA suspended play in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, averaging 14.7 points and 4.8 rebounds.

Barnes is still believed to be sporting the beard he vowed not to shave until the Kings achieve a .500 record or make the playoffs, a promise he made in December. Walton said last weekend he wouldn’t shave until Barnes arrived in Orlando.

“I told Harrison last night when we talked, now that he’s on a flight out here, the beard is coming off,” Walton said. “He tried to convince me that now it means that it’s a good luck beard, but, no, the beard is done.”