NBA to players: No more hugs
Meet the NBA’s latest coronavirus prevention measure: the half-court hug police.
On Wednesday, the NBA stationed security at halfcourt to enforce the league’s revised social distancing guidelines for pre- and post-game interactions, according to a report from The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
Save for the occasional Charles Oakley hip check, the NBA has always enforced illegal conduct on the court during the game. Now, in an effort to quell the spate of COVID-19 outbreaks in its non bubbled season, an errant hug or handshake could be broken up with a badge instead of a whistle.
The rule in view refers to the NBA’s recent prohibition of the standard custom of players greeting their friends and rivals on the opposing team before and after battling them for boards, and barrelling into the paint for a layup in the hopes of drawing a foul.
Essentially, every players’ habitual example of sportsmanship is a health risk worthy of deploying the hug police, as if it will meaningfully reduce the risk of staging basketball despite all the sweating, shouting and mouth breathing inherent to the game.
Of course, it’s funny to envision anyone with Carl Winslow or Barney Fife’s build pressing Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic over an illegal dap. Less amusing sending staffers who tend frequently staffed by off-duty or cops sent to manage a group of Black men, many of whom spent their summer speaking out against police overreach and its fatal consequences.
But the worst result of the league’s latest half-measure: a few more people are at added risk of being exposed to someone carrying a deadly virus.