NBA ‘comfortable’ with Orlando
League finalizes plan to resume season despite massive rise in Florida cases of COVID-19
WASHINGTON — The NBA’s show will go on near Orlando, Fla., next month despite a dramatic rise in coronavirus cases in Florida, as well as player concerns about social justice issues.
After weeks of ongoing talks, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association announced Friday that they have finalized plans for the resumption of the 2019-20 season within a protected bubble at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney World.
The plan, which calls for 22 teams to begin travelling to Florida on July 7 and to begin games on July 30, was agreed to in principle on June 5 but was threatened both by the spread of the coronavirus and by a group of players who felt resuming games might distract from the nationwide protests of George Floyd’s death in while in Minneapolis police custody.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said that the league and players union shared the belief their “deliberate, intentional and collaborative” plan will provide a safe environment even though Florida reported nearly 9,000 new cases on Friday and more than 9,500 on Saturday.
“We are left with no choice but to learn to live with this virus,” Silver said on a conference call, his first since April. “No options are risk-free right now. We can’t sit on the sidelines indefinitely and we must adapt. My ultimate conclusion is that we can’t outrun the virus. While (the bubble) is not impermeable, we are in essence protected from cases around us. For those reasons, we’re still very comfortable being in Orlando.”
More than 300 players reported to teams in their home markets this week for coronavirus testing as the league entered Phase 2 of its return plan. Sixteen of those players tested positive and will be subject to quarantine in the coming days, although Silver noted that none of the players “were seriously ill in any way” and that the number was “roughly where we expected” given age and demographic trends.
Players who tested positive will undergo multiple subsequent tests and a cardiac screening before they will be cleared to travel to Florida. A few players, including Washington Wizards forward Davis Bertans and Los Angeles Lakers guard Avery Bradley, have publicly decided not to play.
“I was somewhat relieved that the number wasn’t higher,” said NBPA executive director Michele Roberts, who joined Silver on the call. “I was also relieved that we had the foresight to test guys now. A vast majority of our players were doing what they should be doing. One (positive test) is too many, but 160 would have been devastating.”
The NBA’s bubble plan, which was laid out in a 113page health and safety protocol, drew praise from public health experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert and member of the White House’s coronavirus task force, because it reflected many best practices in mitigating the virus. Games will be held on a single-site campus without fans. Players must undergo daily testing, and wear masks and maintain social distancing when they are not playing. A positive test within the bubble will be met with a strict quarantine procedure and contact tracing efforts, and play will continue without the affected player.
Even so, doubts about the plan mounted this week as Florida’s coronavirus cases have skyrocketed, in part because some Disney employees will be allowed to leave the bubble to return home after work and in part because numerous other sports teams in Florida have had to suspend training camps and practices due to positive tests. After keeping its daily new case load under 2,000 throughout April and May, Florida surpassed 3,000 on June 18, 5,000 on June 23, 8,000 on Thursday, nearly 9,000 on Friday and closed in on 10,000 on Saturday.
Silver acknowledged that the league’s internal concern “has increased” in the last week and said that the league and players are “closely monitoring” developments, but expressed confidence in the bubble concept. A “subset” of Disney employees could be subjected to additional coronavirus testing, he added, as a method to ensure the health of players and personnel inside the bubble.
“We ultimately believe it will be safer on our campus than off it,” Silver said, leaving open the possibility that a “significant spread” of the coronavirus inside the bubble “might lead us to stop” the resumed season.
“We’re not saying full steam ahead no matter what happens.”