2 unanswered, vital questions about the NBA bubble
Let's hope we never get the answer to the first question. The answer to the other question is needed ASAP, though.
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The NBA’s 113-page health and safety manual leaked on Tuesday. Here’s a detailed summary from ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. If you’re a subscriber of The Athletic, Shams Charania and Sam Amick have a long piece as well. There is a lot of detail in here, including where various teams will stay, what types of social activities will be available, the schedule for arrival and practices and the testing protocols.
Of most immediate concern: teams begin practice and mandatory COVID-19 testing on June 23 in their home markets (with one exception — the Raptors are headed to Naples, Florida). If a player has decided not to join the bubble, they will notify their team by June 24. They won’t lose any pay if the their team or an independent panel of three doctors deems them high-risk for contracting COVID-19. Otherwise, they lose game checks for every official game their teams play in Orlando. So in about a week, we’ll find out if any of the 22 teams will be missing any key players due to bubble concerns or decisions to stay home to focus on activism.
Despite the level of detail in this manual — the current non-playoff teams will be staying in the Yacht Club, playing cards will be thrown away after use, players can’t socialize in person with players staying at other hotels until July 22, there will be a hotline for anonymous tips on bubble violations — there are some enormous unanswered questions.
The manual describes how players who test positive will be treated: an additional test to check against a false positive, then 14 days of quarantine and a battery of tests before being allowed to resume activity.
The manual does not describe what level of outbreak would lead the NBA to shut down play.
Remember, the NBA (wisely!) shut down its season with one positive case. While the bubble environment is meant to protect one case from becoming an outbreak in a way the normal NBA environment could never do, there has to be an expectation that one case could still turn into several in Orlando. How many is enough to hit the panic button? Perhaps that’s an answer Adam Silver and Michele Roberts have that they are closely guarding to stay flexible. The first time there’s a case, this question is going to be unavoidable for the league to answer, especially if players express immediate concern.
It’s one thing to acknowledge up front that there could be cases and the plan is to keep playing even if someone tests positive. It’s another to actually do it.
Meanwhile, based on the leak reports, there’s not a whole lot about the NBA’s commitment to keeping Black Lives Matter front of mind in Orlando, just some generalities. Avery Bradley is a leading voice of the players’ coalition, and that coalition shared its priorities with ESPN’s Malika Andrews and Adrian Wojnarowski on Tuesday. Among them: hiring practices that make management more representative of the league, funding of anti-racism organizations and partnerships with black-owned businesses and vendors.
I found this Bradley quote worthy of attention.
"Regardless of how much media coverage will be received, talking and raising awareness about social injustice isn't enough," Bradley told ESPN. "Are we that self-centered to believe no one in the world is aware of racism right now? That, as athletes, we solve the real issues by using our platforms to speak?
"We don't need to say more. We need to find a way to achieve more. Protesting during an anthem, wearing T-shirts is great, but we need to see real actions being put in to the works."
Elsewhere in the piece, he more or less calls out NBA team owners to pick up some of the burden of funding the movement. Amen.
So those are the two biggest questions. One we hope the league isn’t forced to answer — how many positive cases causes the league to shut down again? — and one the league had better figure out fast — what are the concrete actions the league will take for the movement?
Oh, and they should probably find a playing card vendor who delivers by the pallet.
Links
Jamil Smith on how Black Lives Matter has changed the world.
Matt Ellentuck on who is playing in the WNBA’s bubble season and whether it’s safe to do so.
Whitney Medworth is the perfect person to explain the bubble hotels.
The Phoenix Mercury are uniquely suited to speak up in the WNBA’s bubble.
Andrew Keh in the New York Times on the fake crowd noise debate.
How players who suffer Achilles injuries help each other get back and move on.
Ian Mahinmi on protesting in Dallas.
Kelly Dwyer on our desperate need and lack of need of sports. ($)
Elizabeth Alexander on the Trayvon generation.
Chris Mannix on the case for the Sixers.
In The Athletic, John Hollinger on the worst free agent contracts, including Klay Thompson. ($)
The TBT bracket is out. Competition starts July 4.
And finally: Bill Russell on systemic racism and hope.
Be excellent to each other.