NBA’S bubble holds amid problems

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Russell Westbrook hasn’t made it to the NBA restart yet.

The coronavirus did — but health protocols seemed to work as the league and its players hoped they would.

On a day of troubling news for the league, with the Houston Rockets AllStar point guard revealing he has tested positive for the virus and two other players facing 10-day quarantines for leaving the league campus perimeter at Walt Disney World, it was also announced that two players tested positive for the virus after arriving in central Florida last week.

But neither of those positive players made it out of quarantine, so neither entered the so-called bubble and could mingle freely with other players, coaches and staff. The NBA said both players, neither of whom was identified, “have since left the Campus to isolate at home or in isolation housing.” They could rejoin their teams later.

“Our protocols are unbelievable,” said Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry, one of the players who helped craft the restart rules. “I think our protocols and our health and safety measures have been top-notch. I think this thing will work perfectly . ... We’re doing everything that we can possibly do to make sure that we’re healthy, we’re safe and we’re in an environment where we can be successful and do our jobs at a high level.”

It’s unclear when Westbrook will arrive. As recently as Sunday, the Rockets believed that Westbrook, NBA scoring leader James Harden and newly re-acquired Luc Mbah a Moute — none of the three traveled with the team to Walt Disney World near Orlando last week — would be with the team in the next few days.

In Westbrook’s case, that now seems most unlikely. The arrival dates for Harden and Mbah a Moute are murky as well. Neither player has revealed why they aren’t at Disney, and Rockets coach Mike D’antoni would only say that “these are things that people are dealing with.”

The league also said Monday that 19 players newly tested positive since July 1 during in-market testing, meaning tests done before teams began arriving at Disney on July 7. Upon arrival at Disney, 322 players were tested, with only two positives.

Those protocols that Lowry spoke of were designed to be taken seriously, but at least two players inside the NBA bubble have already violated quarantine.

Sacramento’s Richaun Holmes revealed Monday that he “briefly and accidentally” crossed the NBA campus line to pick up a food delivery. Under the NBA’S rules of the restart, he now has to spend 10 days in quarantine.

Also Monday, a person with knowledge of the situation said that Houston’s Bruno Caboclo was also serving a 10-day quarantine for crossing the campus line.

Monday’s developments came on a day when more than 12,000 new cases were confirmed in Florida, now perhaps the hottest of virus hot spots in the U.S.