Markelle Fultz, James Ennis Report To Magic
Magic guard Markelle Fultz has arrived at the NBA’s Walt Disney World campus and has begun his initial quarantine period, a league source told Josh Robbins of The Athletic this morning (Twitter link).
As Robbins notes, Fultz didn’t travel with the rest of the Magic when the team headed to Disney last Tuesday. Fultz’s arrival was delayed by a personal matter, unrelated to COVID-19. Once he returns a pair of negative coronavirus tests, clears quarantine, and passes a conditioning test, he’ll be able to join the Magic for practices.
Meanwhile, forward James Ennis told reporters on a Zoom call that he was the Magic player who recently tested positive for the coronavirus, Robbins tweets. President of basketball operations Jeff Weltman had said last Tuesday when the club arrived at Disney that one player didn’t accompany the team due to a positive COVID-19 test.
According to Robbins, Ennis had a headache for four or five days and experienced some nausea, but is feeling good now. He has completed his quarantine period and practiced on Wednesday with the Magic for the first time since arriving at the campus.
“I’m just trying to get my wind up and my legs back under me and just get in rhythm, because our first scrimmage is next week,” Ennis said, per Robbins (Twitter link). “I want to be prepared for that.”
The Magic, who currently hold the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, will be looking to secure a playoff spot when they resume play on July 31. Their goal will be to pass the depleted Nets for the No. 7 seed, which would allow them to avoid a first-round matchup with the 53-12 Bucks.
Restart Notes: COVID-19 Testing, Campus Hotline, More
There has been some concern that the daily coronavirus testing taking place in the NBA’s Walt Disney World – as well as the quick turnaround on those test results – has placed some strain on BioReference Laboratories’ testing capacities for the general public. However, Dr. Jon R. Cohen of BioReference insists to Joe Vardon of The Athletic that that’s not the case.
“Our current capacity is somewhere in the vicinity of 50,000 to 70,000 tests a day,” Cohen said. “So the amount of testing we’re doing for the sports franchises is minimal compared to our total number of testing.
“Secondly, we have continued to increase the amount of testing not just nationally, but specifically in the state of Florida. So I have hospitals, urgent care, physicians, all of these other clients in Florida, and not only did we bring more equipment to the lab in Florida, but we devoted more resources. I will tell you in the last two weeks, we’re doing more testing in Florida than we did two weeks beforehand. Hospitals, urgent care, all of that has increased, and we’ve done it without missing a beat.”
The optics of the NBA getting preferential treatment has been a cause for concern for the league since March, when the Jazz and Thunder were able to get tested immediately following Rudy Gobert’s diagnosis. In the four months since then, nationwide testing has ramped up greatly, meaning the NBA’s extensive testing program at Disney is no longer the outlier it once would have been.
Here’s more on the NBA’s restart:
- Multiple tips have been placed to the NBA’s anonymous hotline to report campus protocol violations, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links). According to Charania, some players have received warnings for those violations.
- According to Malika Andrews of ESPN (Twitter link), the NBA is working on addressing concerns about players who continue to test positive for COVID-19 despite having already recovered. Teams are concerned about the possibility of false positives sidelining healthy players once games begin, says Andrews.
- In his latest newsletter, Marc Stein of The New York Times outlines the restrictions that will face the 15 or 20 NBA reporters who are on location (and currently self-quarantining) at Walt Disney World.
- ESPN provides a roundup of quotes from players and coaches about life on the Disney campus.
Michael Beasley Tests Positive For COVID-19, Leaves Campus
New Nets forward Michael Beasley has tested positive for the coronavirus and returned home, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Malika Andrews and Tim Bontemps of ESPN first reported that Beasley had left the NBA’s Walt Disney World campus.
Beasley, who signed with the Nets last Thursday, arrived at Disney shortly after the rest of the team got there last week. As Andrews and Bontemps note, GM Sean Marks told reporters that Beasley would require negative coronavirus tests for six days before he’d receive the go-ahead to join Brooklyn for practices. Presumably, the veteran forward didn’t clear quarantine before testing positive. Now his roster status is up in the air, per Charania.
No NBA team has a more decimated roster right now than the Nets, who are missing a total of seven players from their original squad. Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Nicolas Claxton are sidelined with injuries, Wilson Chandler voluntarily opted out, and DeAndre Jordan, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Taurean Prince have been ruled out following positive coronavirus tests.
Brooklyn has been able to sign substitute players to replace those four non-injured players, bringing aboard Jamal Crawford, Lance Thomas, Donta Hall, and Beasley. Now, however, the Nets may be the first club whose substitute player requires a substitute of his own.
Players who contract COVID-19 don’t have to be replaced, but Beasley had already been out of the NBA for over a year and now won’t be able to participate in the season’s ramp-up period before seeding games begin.
As such, it would make sense for Brooklyn to replace him, and Justin Anderson looks like the logical candidate to do so — he reportedly reached a deal with the Nets back in June and said during an appearance on the JWILLY Show (YouTube link) on Monday that he’s quarantining in an Orlando-area hotel as he prepares to officially sign his contract.
Harrison Barnes Tested Positive For Coronavirus
Kings forward Harrison Barnes announced today (via Twitter) that he tested positive for COVID-19 before the team traveled to Walt Disney World last week and has yet to report to the NBA’s Florida campus as he awaits medical clearance.
“I’ve been primarily asymptomatic and am doing well,” Barnes wrote. “I’m quarantined and am abiding by the safety protocol until I’m cleared for action. I hope to join my team in Orlando when it is safe to do so!”
The NBA and NBPA announced on Monday that 19 players had tested positive for the coronavirus in their home markets since July 1. Presumably, Barnes was one of those 19 players. He’s at least the fourth Kings player known to have tested positive in the last month. Buddy Hield and Jabari Parker have since recovered and recently reported to Orlando, while Alex Len also contracted the virus in June.
So far, there’s no indication that the Kings intend to replace any of those affected players with substitute players. If Sacramento were to sign a substitute player, the player being replaced would become ineligible to play for the rest of the 2019/20 season.
Unlike teams who are already looking ahead of the postseason, the Kings will face some urgency to win games right away when their season resumes on July 31, since they’re four games out of the final playoff spot in the West. So if Barnes or any other player is affected by COVID-19 symptoms longer than anticipated, it’s possible Sacramento would consider making a move.
Two NBA Players Tested Positive On Campus, Didn’t Clear Quarantine
Of the 322 NBA players who have been tested for the coronavirus since arriving in Orlando on July 7, two returned confirmed positive tests, the league and the NBPA announced today in a press release.
Those players were tested while self-isolating in their hotel rooms and never cleared quarantine, according to today’s announcement. They have since left the NBA’s Walt Disney World campus to isolate at home or in isolation housing. As a result, the hope is that the campus isn’t compromised and there won’t be any sort of outbreak.
According to the NBA and NBPA, 19 players have also tested positive in their home markets since July 1. Those players remain in their respective markets and didn’t travel to Orlando. They’re recovering, quarantining, and awaiting medical clearance before they get the go-ahead to travel to Disney.
While the identity of many of those affected players isn’t known, some have been reported or have announced their positive tests themselves. Rockets star Russell Westbrook became the latest to do so today, announcing on Twitter that he contracted the virus.
Russell Westbrook Tested Positive For COVID-19
Rockets guard Russell Westbrook announced today (via Twitter) that he tested positive for the coronavirus prior to departing for the NBA’s campus in Florida.
“I’m currently feeling well, quarantined, and looking forward to rejoining my teammates when I am cleared,” Westbrook wrote in his statement.
Westbrook had been one of three Rockets players who had yet to report to the Walt Disney World campus, along with former MVP James Harden and recently-signed forward Luc Mbah a Moute. It’s unclear whether Harden’s and Mbah a Moute’s absences are coronavirus-related or whether their arrivals have been delayed for other reasons. Head coach Mike D’Antoni said on Sunday that he expected the missing players to report within a few days.
Teams are permitted to replace players who contract COVID-19 with a substitute player. However, replaced players are ineligible to return for the rest of the season. With Westbrook said to be feeling well, there’s no reason for the Rockets not to wait for him to recover — his statement and D’Antoni’s comments suggest the team will do just that.
Assuming Westbrook is cleared to head to Orlando and report to the Rockets within the next week or two, he should still have plenty of time to ramp up before the playoffs begin on August 18.
Acquired last July in a blockbuster trade with the Thunder, Westbrook has had a strong first season in Houston, averaging 27.5 PPG, 8.0 RPG, and 7.0 APG in 53 games (35.9 MPG). He has been particularly effective as a slasher and play-maker since the Rockets introduced their “micro-ball” lineup and will be counted on to play a key role if the club is to make a deep postseason run.
Bruno Caboclo To Re-Isolate After Breaking Quarantine
Rockets forward Bruno Caboclo inadvertently broke quarantine at the NBA’s Walt Disney World campus and will be required to re-quarantine for another eight days before he resumes team activities, according to Tim MacMahon, Zach Lowe, Malika Andrews, and Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Twitter link). Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle clarifies (via Twitter) that Caboclo is now two days into a new 10-day quarantine period.
Any sort of coronavirus outbreak within the Disney campus could throw a wrench into the NBA’s restart plan, so the league is requiring players, coaches, and staffers to strictly follow the protocols put in place. Caboclo is the first player known to have run afoul of those protocols, having left his room during the initial quarantine period, tweets MacMahon. He was unaware he wasn’t allowed to do so, despite having been informed of those restrictions.
Caboclo, 24, was traded from Memphis to Houston at the trade deadline in February, but didn’t see much action after joining the Rockets. He appeared in just five games before the season was suspended in March, averaging 2.0 PPG and 1.8 RPG in 5.6 minutes per contest.
Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni is unlikely to utilize a super-deep rotation in Orlando, but with David Nwaba unable to play due to his Achilles recovery and Luc Mbah a Moute rejoining the team after a long layoff, Caboclo had a chance to move up on the depth chart. Now that he won’t be able to resume practicing until next week, it seems less likely that he’ll play regular minutes during the seeding games.
The Rockets are still waiting for stars James Harden and Russell Westbrook, as well as Mbah a Moute, to report to the Disney campus in Florida. According to Feigen, D’Antoni said on Sunday that those players are working out at “their own home base” and that they should arrive “in a few days.” He declined to offer specifics on why the arrivals of Harden, Westbrook, and Mbah a Moute have been delayed.
“These are things that people are dealing with,” D’Antoni said. “We’re not going to get into why not. They’re on their way.”
Restart Notes: LeBron, Popovich, Testing, COVID-19
Now that NBA personnel have experienced a few days in the campus environment at Walt Disney World, two of the league’s biggest names spoke out Saturday in support of what the league has accomplished, writes Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press.
“They took all precautionary reasons, measures to make sure that we as a league are as safe as we can be,” said Lakers star LeBron James. “Obviously, in anything that you do, there can be things that could happen, but we will cross that line if it happens.”
Similar sentiments were expressed by Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, the elder statesman among NBA coaches at age 71, who risks exposing himself to a virus that the Centers for Disease Control warns is particularly dangerous for older people. But Popovich didn’t hesitate to make the trip to Orlando and was leading the Spurs through practice Saturday for the first time in four months.
“If this bubble works, I’m safer here than I would be in Texas,” he said, noting the rise in COVID-19 cases in that state. “And since the decision was made to do this to start the season again, under these circumstances, with all the precautions, what a great opportunity.”
There’s more this morning relating to the restart:
- As sports leagues return to action, there are renewed concerns that they will be using a large number of coronavirus tests and other resources needed by the medical community, according to Gabe Lacques, Tom Schad and Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. The NBA, MLB and MLS are projected to go through a combined 19,000 tests per week. “If you have every single player on a team wanting to be tested — even if it’s once a week or twice a week — that’s just a huge strain on the system,” said Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist at New York University and Bellevue Hospital.
- In addition to the immediate risks for any player who contracts the virus, there are worries about long-term heart issues, notes Baxter Holmes of ESPN. Players who test positive are required to undergo a cardiac screening before being cleared to return to action. Doctors fear that cardiac damage can increase if players try to continue training while they’re infected.
- In a look at how the virus might affect the 2020/21 season, Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps of ESPN suggest the financial strain may make teams less willing to part with coaches who are under contract.
Nuggets Expect Jokic To Join Team Within A Few Days
After a positive coronavirus test delayed his return to the United States, Nuggets center Nikola Jokic is expected to join the team in Orlando in the coming days, head coach Mike Malone told reporters on Friday.
“The hope is that he will be here soon,” Malone told reporters, including ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk via Zoom after the team practiced. “I have spoken to him many times. I know he’s excited and looking forward to getting down here. He’s healthy, he feels great, hopefully he will be here soon in the next couple of days.”
The 25-year-old tested positive for COVID-19 in his native Serbia and needed two negative tests in the country before being able to join his teammates stateside. Jokic will need two negative tests in the United States before he can practice with the Nuggets. Jokic was asymptomatic at the time of his positive test and as Malone stated, he is in good health.
In 65 games before the pandemic shuttered play, Jokic was having a solid season, averaging a career-high 20.2 PPG to go along with 10.2 RPG for the Nuggets. The hope remains that Jokic can be at full health once the 2019/20 season resumes in Orlando.
Financial, Logistical Uncertainty Looms Over 2020/21 NBA Season
Now that the NBA has finalized its plan for the summer restart and teams have reported to Orlando, we have a pretty clear idea of what the rest of the 2019/20 season will look like, assuming it can be completed. However, uncertainty looms over the ’20/21 campaign, which doesn’t yet have an official start date.
According to Alex Silverman of Morning Consult, the NBA’s Global Innovation Group recently sent out an internal planning document outlining four possible scenarios for the 2020/21 season. Three of the proposed scenarios would feature a December start date and a July end date, but the fourth would see the season start in March 2021 and run through October, Silverman writes.
As Silverman explains, that fourth scenario is one that could be considered if there’s a pathway in early 2021 to a coronavirus vaccine or therapeutic treatment for COVID-19 that would allow teams to host fans in their home arenas for a full season. Under that proposal, the league would consider breaking for the Tokyo Olympics in the summer and would execute a “rolling schedule” rather than releasing the full-season schedule at once, Silverman writes.
It seems more likely that the NBA will opt for one of the December-to-July scenarios (the league has tentatively proposed a December 1 start date), but that will mean making contingency plans and preparing for a wide variety of complications related to the state of the coronavirus pandemic across North America.
According to Silverman, the NBA may still have to consider rolling schedule releases if the season starts in December, as well as “increasing game density, building in buffers for canceled or rescheduled games, and potentially using alternate sites like neutral markets or practice and G League facilities.” Regionally restricting matchups to reduce travel is also a possibility, Silverman adds.
Determining how to safely play in a world with the coronavirus will be a crucial question for the NBA to answer as it weighs its options for next season, but there are other important factors to consider, per Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Notably, the NBA’s owners and players will have to agree to a deal on how to financially operate, and 30 teams facing different restrictions and market conditions will have to figure out the best way to share revenues.
As Windhorst and Bontemps explain, the NBA salvaged its lucrative television deals in 2019/20 and had played about 75% of its regular season before the coronavirus pandemic forced a stoppage, so the financial losses were significant but not debilitating.
During the 2020/21 season, however, teams might not be able to fill their arenas with fans at all from opening night through the playoffs, which would significantly cut into the league’s earnings — commissioner Adam Silver has estimated that about 40% of the NBA’s revenues come from ticket sales and other arena-related revenues.
“The truth is, things are changing so fast that, when it comes to next season, the best we can do is put a stake in the ground and make a guess,” an Eastern Conference team president told ESPN. “The reality is nobody is probably going to operate in the black next season. The only question is how much each of us are going to lose.”
According to Windhorst and Bontemps, the league’s financial situation will become even cloudier if – due to local health restrictions and regulations – some teams can’t get fans into their arenas while others can. In a typical season, massive revenues for teams like the Lakers and Warriors help support smaller-market clubs. But if those smaller-market teams can host fans while big-market teams can’t, “traditional revenue sharing becomes distorted,” Windhorst and Bontemps write.
Sources tell ESPN that NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum recently told team presidents that the league’s plan for now is to allow local governments to regulate crowds at games. That means franchises around the NBA could be at the mercy of the policy views of local governors and mayors.
The salary cap for the 2020/21 season will be another important detail to resolve. While there’s a widespread desire to artificially smooth the cap based on this year’s $109MM rather than allowing a substantial dip, that will require negotiations between owners and players. Additionally, as Windhorst and Bontemps note, since owners and players share the NBA’s revenues, there will have to be some sort of system in place to ensure a split near 50/50 is maintained, even as revenues decrease.
According to the ESPN duo, one option would be to increase the amount of players’ salaries that are held in escrow from 10% to 20%. Another option would be for the excess player salaries needed to balance the revenue split to be offset in future seasons.
“In one case, the owners want a loan from the players. And in the other case, the players want a loan from the owners,” one agent told ESPN. “It will probably end up somewhere in the middle and it will get done after some yelling and posturing.”
The NBA put in a ton of work to establish a plan to end the 2019/20 season — much more work will be required to figure out what next season will look like.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.