As certain states across the country begin to loosen their stay-at-home restrictions because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the NBA is looking to do the same in terms of reopening some of its teams’ facilities for their players starting this Friday.
So far, the Cavaliers, Blazers, and Nuggets have confirmed that they will be among the first franchises to unlock their doors since the league went on an indefinite hiatus starting March 11th. For those counting, that’s 57 long days without basketball. For now, head coaches will not be allowed to oversee the workouts, but up to 6 assistants or player development personnel members can be on-site to put the players through their paces as they look to get back into form should the season resume.
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While some owners are anxious to get things back on track, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban doesn’t think “the risk is worth the reward.” Cuban went on record yesterday saying, “The problem is that because we can’t test people, then we can’t assure anybody’s safety, whether they’re a basketball player or anybody else. Even though we can try to take all kinds of precautions, it’s just not worth it.”
That goes along with commissioner Adam Silver’s line of thinking, according to a source I spoke with who is close to the situation. Testing is still extremely sparse throughout the United States for the Coronavirus, and Silver says that hejust can’t justify testing the NBA’s players and personnel when most of the general public cannot get its hands on that same testing. That has been his number one hold up during the lockdown, and I’ve been told that he won’t relent on that stance until testing ramps up severely across the nation.
Now that team facilities are starting to open up, it would seem that the season resuming would be eminent and a foregone conclusion despite the commissioner’s misgivings.
Solutions for restarting the league have been proposed in the form of a “bubble,” which means the remaining season and playoffs would take place in an active quarantine zone. Teams and personnel would be locked away together for the remaining timeframe it would take to conclude the games in both Las Vegas and Orlando according to my source. The Eastern Conference would hold its games in Florida, while the Western Conference would converge on the Strip.
The proposal sent to the NBA from the MGM’s brasssays thatthe Mandalay Bay, The Delano, and the Four Seasons (Which are all on the same plot of land)would serve as the epicenter of the Las Vegas “bubble.” For Orlando, they would utilize Disney World and its interconnected facilities.
Photography by TQ
Though many people have been excited about the idea of this “bubble,” I’m told by NBA sources that a lot of the owners might not be keen on the plan, particularly ones who are out of playoff contention.
A lot of these owners are saving money by not playing games, and the consensus between them might be that it would be better to just shut the league down for the season. I was also told that there was about a 60/40 chance that a shutdown would be the outcome if there were a vote today.
For now, nothing is set in stone, but there are still too many variables to consider before we see players competing on the NBA hardwood anytime soon. Silver wants to see more testing, owners like Cuban aren’t convinced it’s safe, while other owners just aren’t sure it’s worth it from a monetary perspective.
We do know fans are clamoring for the league to return, and superstars like the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James want to compete for an NBA championship. James says he wouldn’t have closure on this season if the league didn’t resume, and I know Lakers fans, as well as players and fans from other contenders, would feel the same.
NBA Reopening Lakers NBA Basketball reopening plan las vegas sports COVID 19 NBA reopening
NBA Reopening Lakers NBA Basketball reopening plan las vegas sports COVID 19 NBA reopening
NBA Reopening Lakers NBA Basketball reopening plan las vegas sports COVID 19 NBA reopening
Joe Arrigo is the co-founder and VP of Franchise Sports Media. Joe has been in media since 2004 when he became the morning host on KKUU and mid-days co-host on KXPS in Pam Springs. After his time in Palm Springs, Joe became the operations manager when he built, programmed, and was on-air for KQCM. He has also had stints on-air in various markets, including Fresno. Joe became the producer and co-host for The Beast 980 (KFWB), a sports talk station in Los Angeles, before moving to Vegas in 2015. In 2019 he founded Franchise Sports Media with TQ.
