The traveling parties for NBA teams typically exceed 50 members, but Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link) says the league has told clubs that number will have to be trimmed down if and when the season resumes in a bubble/campus-like environment.
According to Stein, teams have been informed that they’ll likely be permitted to bring approximately 35 total players, coaches, and staffers into the “bubble” this summer. Of course, if all 30 teams return to play, that would still work out to over 1,000 people, and that’s before taking into account all the other individuals, including league officials and staffers, who would need to be involved as well.
Here’s more on the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the NBA:
- The NBA has informed its teams that it’s engaged in discussions with multiple national providers of COVID-19 tests, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links). As Charania notes, coronavirus testing will be a “central component” of the resumption of the season, so the league is shoring up its testing protocols and has asked clubs to create accounts with BioReference Laboratories, LabCorp, Quest Diagnostics and Vault Health/RUCDR Infinite Biologics at Rutgers.
- Two medical experts who spoke to Seerat Sohi of Yahoo Sports have concerns about the “campus-like” environment described by Jared Dudley this week for the NBA’s return, suggesting that the plan relies too much on the accuracy of coronavirus tests, which may produce false negatives.
- In an ESPN report that features 15 bylines, writers who cover several different sports take an in-depth look at how those sports are attempting to return to action. As ESPN’s writers observe, the attitude among sports leagues has shifted over the last couple months, “from fear of one positive test shutting down a season to the gradual acceptance of risk.”
35 in the travelling party is still way too much mass. Tell execs & ACs to use remote devices. Personal trainers, limited access. I guess HCs need one or two to talk to to keep from going foggy. Anyone over 50 will be taking their life in their hands and should not even be invited despite protests.
Above^ it said that teams should establish accounts with testing labs. But it is a third party, if not the league, who should be responsible for testing and tossing the positive-testing players.