Ring device on hand for NBA
Sensor that helps track virus symptoms will be available but not mandatory.
As the NBA attempts to restart its season despite rising cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations because of the disease, it has placed an emphasis on being able to quickly discover and track the illness in players. One device the league is planning to make available for players in Orlando, Fla., is a ring that has sensors to measure different bodily functions.
The ring, produced by the company Oura, isn’t foreign to NBA circles. At least not in Los Angeles.
Judy Seto, the Lakers’ director of sports performance, wears one. In an interview in February, Seto removed the titanium ring to show the glowing inside where sensors could detect different happenings in her body.
“The electronics of this one is similar to a Fitbit, but it’s a little bit more accurate,” Seto said. “This tells me how long did it take for me to fall asleep . ... How much did I get? Did I stay asleep or did I toss and turn at night? Gives me feedback of, Hmm, saw that you went to bed a little late or you kept on waking up at night. Is something bothering you? Your body temperature’s elevated, are you feeling well?”
It’s the latter that the NBA is most interested in during the pandemic. One of the early symptoms of COVID-19 is a high fever. One study suggests the Oura can detect the presence of the illness three days earlier than a swab test.
On social media, Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma expressed skepticism about the device: “Looks like a tracking device,” he said, adding an emoji of a face peering one eye through a monocle. Other NBA players and medical experts have raised concerns about the detection device.
The league is trying to assuage concerns. It says it won’t force any players to wear the rings but is planning to make them available, according to memos distributed last week.
The NBA also has said players can’t wear the rings during games. It has promised that while the data collected from the rings will be available to players, it won’t be available to team staff except to alert them that a player’s illness probability score is high enough that it shows he is at higher risk or showing symptoms of COVID-19. The league also said the data won’t be used for commercial purposes, made public or be available for use in future contract negotiations.
The Lakers do not collect data acquired in these rings. They simply offer them as an option for players. And before the pandemic, the main goal was to use the ring to identify sleep patterns.
“Some do,” Seto said, when asked in February whether players have chosen to wear the ring. “There’s an app on the phone that you can do. There’s also different devices. Some just wear it in the evening . ... With our travel schedule, it’s difficult sometimes to get enough sleep, but by educating people on the importance of sleep, hopefully [it makes] sleep more of a priority.”