Gasol says adapting key to new rules

NBA and players’ union will follow stricter health protocols for two weeks to try to reduce COVID- 19.

Lakers center Marc Gasol was still trying to process the new health and safety protocols the NBA and players’ union agreed to for the next two weeks to help the league navigate through a wave of game postponements because of COVID- 19.

The NBA has postponed f ive games since Sunday because of the increased positive tests and contact tracing.

“You just keep adapting with the best interest of having a healthy season and everybody being able to play, so you understand that all the rules that are put in [ place] are for the best interest of everyone and having health in mind,” Gasol said before scoring five points in the Lakers’ 117- 100 win at Houston on Tuesday night. “I think likely, knock on wood, we’ve been very fortunate so far and we can control only what we control.”

The league is mandating players and team staff to follow strict regulations while in home markets, prohibiting them from leaving their residences except for “teamrelated activities at the team facility or arena, exercise outside, or [ to] perform essential activities, or as a result of extraordinary circumstances.”

Also, anyone in regular household contact with players or staff must be tested for COVID- 19 twice a week.

While on the road, players are no longer allowed to have guests inside their hotel rooms. Players had been allowed up to two family members or close friends. Players can also no longer dine at leagueapproved restaurants and are forbidden from contact with nonteam guests at hotels.

Pregame locker- room meetings must be 10 minutes or less, with players prohibited from pregame handshakes outside of “elbow and f ist bumps.” Players also must wear masks on the bench, although there are “cool- down chairs” 12 feet away from the bench where players who just checked out aren’t required to wear masks.

“I don’t know which one is the worst or the toughest or the most restrictive,” Gasol said. “I think having a mask, obviously, all the time while you’re working out pregame in the weight room and stuff like that, it’s pretty restrictive. It’s not ideal to work out with your mask on outside of the court.

“Obviously, you got to have the mask every time besides when you’re on the court, so you do a lot of stuff around that that’s not ideal. But like I said, it’s for the best of everyone. We understand that.”

If a team has a positive case, it can require up to f ive consecutive days of “twice- per- day, lab- based testing, in addition to daily pointof- care testing.”

The health and safety measures could be implemented longer than two weeks if necessary.