INSIDE THE BUBBLE
Isolation housing, MagicBands and video tracing highlight NBA’s Disney adventure
As the NBA rolls out its plan for a restart, it’s clear the league will be taking the coronavirus testing seriously.
A 113-page safety manual sent to players, and reported by ESPN and The Athletic, outlined the protocols for inside the Orlando bubble, including a requirement for positive coronavirus individuals to be transferred to “Isolation Housing.” The location will not house any players who did not test positive.
The requirement for leaving “Isolation Housing” is testing negative twice in a span of over 24 hours. They will also have to be symptom-free for two weeks before undergoing a cardiac screening and becoming eligible to return to play.
Perhaps most interesting (and expensive and time-consuming), the NBA will use “video technology” to assist contract tracing for people who test positive. Anyone who was within 6 feet of the infected person for at least 15 minutes or had “direct contact with infectious secretions and excretions” will be tested. According to The Athletic, all NBA personnel inside the bubble is required to wear a Disney MagicBand, which will serve as their pass across the campus but also alert them if they require medical attention.
In a shorter memo sent to players agents and obtained by the Daily News, the NBA set June 25 as the deadline for when players have to decide whether they want to join the bubble. Attendance is not manis datory, meaning a player not subject to disciplinary action. However, healthy players who don’t participate will be docked pay by 1/92.6th for each game missed — a rate based on how much a player would be paid if the season were canceled and the NBA enacted its force majeure clause. That reduction is capped at 14 games, which is one below the minimum number of games each team will play inside the bubble (counting the three exhibitions).
Players have expressed concern about participating in the bubble for multiple reasons, including the coronavirus risk, the risk of injury, the restrictions of a quarantine and limitations of influencing social change while playing basketball.
The league, however, sent the message that it will be pampering its players in Disney World. According to The Athletic, the players will stay in three different posh resorts and have access to a players-only lounge, televisions, video games, a pool, walking trails, barbers, manicurists, pedicurists, and a 24-hour VIP concierge.
The NBA is scheduled to start with scrimmages inside the Orlando bubble on July 22. Each team will have three scrimmages before the seeding games begin on July 30. The Finals will conclude in October.