Sportiqe providing face covers for Suns in Orlando Bubble
Phoenix Suns have once again collaborated with Sportiqe for an important cause.
The Tempe-based company is providing face coverings for the Suns in the Orlando Bubble as Phoenix won its first scrimmage, 101-88, over Utah on Thursday night at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.
“When the mandate started coming up where, hey, we’re going to need to wear face covers, they realized, hey, we got to have something comfortable that these guys know and we know they’ll wear and they’re comfortable wearing because they’re probably going to have to be wearing them for extended period of time,” said Sportiqe co-founder and principal, Jason Franklin.
Calling it a fluid situation, Franklin said Wednesday the players will be required to wear Sportiqe Suns’ face covers while on the bench as well as coaches.
In Thursday’s scrimmage, Monty Williams and his main assistants weren’t wearing masks, but the staff behind them were as the seating is strategically spaced out for safety precautions amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Players and coaches have been wearing the face covers from the bench not only during the scrimmages but also when doing Zoom media interviews.
“It’s our most popular, most comfortable T-shirt fabric,” Franklin said. “It’s our most comfy tee fabric that we use for these face covers. This is the material we felt A, would be comfortable to wear, B, provide them protection and C, not interfere too much with what they needed to do. Talking to fellow teammates or coaches.”
The Suns (26-39) open their regularseason seedings schedule July 31 against Washington (24-40).
The face covers are an essential part of NBA game setup that has a much different look without fans in attendance.