NBA plan clearly defined
Not all players on board just yet
On Friday, the NBA outlined the plan for a return to play.
International players would need to return to their teams by Monday; everyone else must be back a week later. Teams start mandatory testing for the coronavirus June 23, required individual workouts begin July 1, and then they head to Orlando, Fla., for training camp as soon as July 7 with games beginning July 30.
That’s NBA’s plan. But the players? They might have different ideas.
According to multiple players, agents and executives, the belief is that the season is not in serious peril — not yet, at least. But fueled by several concerns, perhaps most prominently that a return to play would serve as a distraction from the Black Lives Matter movement, there are players considering not returning.
Much of the NBA remains in favor of playing.
For some, the decision to play (or to not) isn’t about money.
Portland star Damian Lillard said he thinks the biggest issue giving players pause is the possibility a return could distract from the wave of social change sparked by the ongoing protests against police brutality and systemic racism.
“I can’t speak for everybody, but for me personally, I’m able to do my job more effectively when I’m in a good place personally. You know what I’m saying? And this is something that affects me personally,” Lillard said to GQ magazine. “I’m just connected to so many people that it’s like, how can I be consumed with a basketball game? Look at the lengths we’re going to play a basketball game when there’s something so much greater going on. Something so much more meaningful going on, that really needs us.”
Other players have concerns about returning to play in Orlando, where it’s not clear how much freedom players will have once they’re in the bubble.
And current plans call for Disney staffers to largely continue living off site. Coronavirus cases are spiking daily in Orlando’s county, leading players such as New Orleans’ J.J. Redick, Orlando’s Evan Fournier and Memphis’ Tyus Jones to wonder how successful a “bubble” could be if it had a hole in it.