Spoelstra praises virus protocols, says, ‘We do feel that it’s safer here’
As Inter Miami prepares to play its second game of the MLS is Back Tournament at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex on Tuesday, the NBA is hoping its Walt Disney World bubble proves to be more secure.
The MLS bubble has faced various issues. Two teams — FC Dallas and Nashville SC — were forced to pull out of the tournament because of a high number of positive COVID-19 tests that included some upon arrival, suggesting players contracted the virus in their home markets before entering the bubble.
A game between Toronto FC and D.C. United was also rescheduled and played Monday after a positive COVID-19 test on D.C.’s side and an inconclusive COVID-19 test on Toronto’s side forced it to be postponed.
With all 22 NBA teams participating in the restart arriving at the league’s Disney campus last week, the NBA announced Monday: “Of the 322 players tested for COVID-19 since arriving on the NBA Campus July 7, two have returned confirmed positive tests while in quarantine. Those players never cleared quarantine and have since left the campus to isolate at home or in isolation housing.”
All players and staff were required to quarantine in their individual hotel rooms upon arrival at Disney until they returned two negative COVID-19 tests at least 24 hours apart, which each of the 22 teams has already completed.
Houston Rockets All-Star guard Russell Westbrook announced on social media Monday that he tested positive for the virus before the team left for Central Florida and that he’s “currently feeling well.” Westbrook did not travel with the Rockets to Disney.
“Anything can happen, and you have to be able to understand the reality of the world that we live in,” Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Saturday when asked about the risks that come with playing sports amid a pandemic. “It’s a world with a virus right now. You can’t run away from it.
“But all the protocols and plans that have been put into place I think are extremely well thought out. Nothing is absolutely 100 percent guaranteed. But we do feel that it is safer here. I know you hear that all the time. But certainly from where we’re coming from in South Florida, where the numbers are really spiking, to an area that’s really in a controlled, safe environment, I think it’s the best opportunity for it to have success. And we’re all just praying and hoping that it works out.”
In the first week of bubble life, two NBA players have already been forced to quarantine for 10 days in their hotel rooms after breaking protocol. Rockets forward Bruno Caboclo reportedly unintentionally broke the required 36-48 hour quarantine upon arrival at Disney, and Sacramento Kings forward Richaun Holmes crossed the NBA campus line to pick up a food delivery.
Fifteen of the Heat’s 17 players made the Wednesday bus ride to Disney. Guard Goran Dragic said Friday the Heat was without center Bam Adebayo
and guard Kendrick Nunn.
The Heat has had three players test positive for COVID-19 since mandatory testing began June 23. Forward Derrick Jones Jr.,
who allowed for the release of his name following his positive test last month, was cleared in time to travel with the team.
The two Heat players who tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this month remain in Miami and are expected to join the team in Disney at a later date when they are cleared to travel. The Miami Herald has not reported the names of the two players who most recently tested positive because they have not authorized their names to be released.
“We test every day,” Spoelstra said of life on the NBA campus. “All the protocols bring more confidence and comfort, really. The fact that we’re testing every day. The fact that we are wearing masks any time that we’re in the general lobby or hallway areas, even going to the meal rooms. We have the hand sanitizers any place that you look on this campus. And everybody has already developed habits of cleanliness of washing their hands and these things. And the fact that we can’t leave the campus, I think these are all really needed protocols.”
THIS AND THAT
How has Jones looked through the first three Disney practices?
“I’m not evaluating that, because everybody’s in a different spot, really, physically, because of the uniqueness of these circumstances,” Spoelstra said. “But it’s good to have him out here. That’s what we’re looking at right now, is just continuing to move the train forward, get guys on the court and get them improving every single day.”
After practicing Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Disney, the Heat did not practice Monday. The team is scheduled to return to the practice court Tuesday.
The NBA finalized the uniforms teams will wear during the eight-game “seeding” schedule.
Here are the uniforms the Heat will wear: White Association vs. Denver Nuggets on Aug. 1; Black Icon vs. Toronto Raptors on Aug. 3; Blue Vice vs. Boston Celtics on Aug. 4; Black Icon vs. Milwaukee Bucks on Aug. 6; Red Statement vs. Phoenix
Suns on Aug. 8; Blue Vice vs. Indiana Pacers on Aug. 10; White Association vs. Oklahoma City Thunder on Aug. 12; Black Icon vs. Pacers on Aug. 14.