Bucks Close Practice Facility Following Rounds Of COVID-19 Testing
The Bucks have shut down the team’s practice facility following results from COVID-19 testing on Friday, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Milwaukee isn’t expected to re-open its facility for workouts before the team travels to Orlando on Thursday for the NBA’s resumption, Wojnarowski adds.
Along with the Bucks, the Clippers, Heat and Nuggets have all been forced to close their facilities within the past week due to positive coronavirus tests. The Suns and Nets also had to shut their facilities down in June.
The Bucks currently sit atop the Eastern Conference standings at 53-12, winning six of their last 10 games before the season was indefinitely suspended on March 11. They hold an impressive 28-3 record at home, going 34-5 against teams in the East this season.
Milwaukee is slated to play its first game on July 31 against Boston. To this point, only individual workouts have commenced at team practice facilities — group workouts won’t be allowed until the 22 teams enter the NBA’s campus in Orlando.
Restart Notes: Travel Policy, Barkley, Lillard, Crowd Noise
The NBA has sent a memo to its teams outlining the procedure for getting players to Orlando who aren’t able to travel on the team charter, writes Malika Andrews of ESPN. Any player who misses a COVID-19 test in the two days before the departure date or who has “extenuating circumstances” that the league is aware of will be required to arrange his own travel.
Options include a charter flight at the player’s expense, flying commercial, or traveling by car. Players who fly privately or drive will have to register negative results on two coronavirus tests before beginning basketball activities at Walt Disney World. Players who opt for commercial flights will need three negative test results.
All 22 teams involved in the restart are scheduled to arrive in Orlando on staggered schedules from Tuesday through Thursday. The NBA requires players who have contracted the virus to quarantine and then have two negative tests before they are cleared to travel with their teams, so those who tested positive in the last week will be excluded from those flights. Andrews notes that the Heat and Nuggets have both recently experienced multiple positive tests among their traveling parties.
There’s more news relating to the restart:
- Hall of Famer Charles Barkley is among the doubters that the venture in Orlando will be successful. Appearing on a podcast with TNT broadcast partner Ernie Johnson, Barkley cast doubt that the NBA will be able to crown a champion. “I don’t think we got any chance of finishing this thing,” he said. “That hurts because I know a lot of people that would lose their jobs and would be affected going forward. … I just don’t see how we can go three months – the chances of us going three months and not having an outbreak – I just think that is impossible.”
- Mark Medina of USA Today talked to several players and coaches about resuming the season and found a lot of concern about health and safety. “My confidence ain’t great because you’re telling me you’re going to have 22 teams full of players following all the rules?” Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard said. “When we have 100% freedom, everybody don’t follow all the rules. I don’t have much confidence.”
- Pre-recorded crowd noise is one approach several leagues are taking to make their games feel more realistic, writes Joe Reedy of The Associated Press. The NBA has talked to 2K Sports about using its sound library when play resumes.
Heat Have Another Positive COVID-19 Test
Another Heat player has tested positive for the coronavirus, a league source tells Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Reports earlier this week indicated Miami had two other players who came back positive in the most recent round of testing, which forced the team to close its practice facility for a second time Friday.
Jackson isn’t identifying the first two players, but a source tells The Herald that they’re both part of the rotation. Those players are in quarantine and are expected to be ready when the season resumes, even though they won’t travel with the Heat to Walt Disney World next week.
Miami’s Derrick Jones Jr. also tested positive in late June. He remains in quarantine, but is participating in individual workouts assigned by the team.
At least one Heat staff member also had a positive test, a source tells Jackson.
Clippers’ Landry Shamet Tests Positive for COVID-19
Landry Shamet has tested positive for the coronavirus and isn’t expected to be with the Clippers when they travel to Orlando on Wednesday, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The Clippers were forced to close their practice facility this week after a member of their traveling party registered a positive test for COVID-19. There was hope that the facility might be reopened before the team departs for Florida, but Shamet’s test may affect that decision.
Twenty-five NBA players and 10 staffers had recorded positive tests through Thursday, according to a release from the league.
The second-year guard has become a valuable rotation player since being acquired from the Sixers midway through last season. He is averaging 9.7 points per game and has started 27 of the 47 games he has played this year.
Restart Notes: Mental Health, Scrimmage Schedule, Trail Blazers
The NBA will place a strong emphasis on the mental health of players as they prepare to enter the campus in Orlando, writes Brett Martel of The Associated Press. Players are looking at a prolonged absence from their families as they head to Walt Disney World in a few days to begin training camps. They also face restrictions on where they are permitted to go, along with the knowledge that they’re in a state where COVID-19 cases are rapidly rising.
“This is one of the mental parts about it that guys have to adjust to, where someone like me, I go home and it’s where I kind of relax,” Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday said. “I try my best not to bring my work home with me so I can hang out with my wife, my dog, and my daughter and I can do things like that. … I think that’s going to be a little bit of a challenge, especially after like seven to 10 days.”
Holiday, whose wife is expecting their second child, is one of many players who will be separated from responsibilities at home. Gordon Hayward will consider leaving the Celtics when his fourth child arrives in September, and Grizzlies guard Ja Morant will likely miss his daughter’s first birthday in August. Families won’t be permitted to join players in the Disney environment until the second round of the playoffs.
“Let’s not kid ourselves. This quarantine situation is going to be very difficult,” said Pelicans VP of basketball operations David Griffin. “… It’s going to be about who can keep themselves in the best frame of mind, quite frankly.”
There’s more relating to the restart:
- The NBA has announced its week-long schedule for scrimmages, with each team playing three times (Twitter link). Games will get underway July 22 with the Magic facing the Clippers and will continue through July 28. The league made an effort to schedule teams against opponents in the opposite conference or against an unlikely matchup in the first round of the playoffs, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
- The shutdown has affected the balance of power for the playoffs by allowing several players time to recover from injuries, notes Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. The Trail Blazers may have benefited the most, getting back big men Zach Collins, who had been sidelined since October 27 after having surgery for a dislocated left shoulder, and Jusuf Nurkic, who suffered fractures to the tibia and fibula in his left leg late last season. “They look great,” Damian Lillard said. “They make me feel way more confident going in, both of them. Like I forgot … I didn’t forget, but I forgot who they were. It’s been so long that I almost forgot.”
- Malika Andrews of ESPN offers a video look at what life has been like since entering the WDW campus.
Restart Notes: Jersey Messages, Chicago Campus, Disney Employees
The NBA and the players’ union have reached an agreement on the social justice messages that can be displayed on the back of jerseys during the league’s restart, writes Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated.
According to Spears, those messages will be permitted in place of players’ last names for the first four days of the restart. After that, players can still opt to display messages on the back of their jerseys, but their last names will be there as well.
As Spears details, the NBA and NBPA are providing a list of “approved suggested social messages,” including Black Lives Matter, Anti-Racist, and Vote, among many others. Specific names of victims of police violence won’t be permitted due to concerns about gaining permission from surviving family members or offending families of victims whose names aren’t used, per Spears.
Here’s more on the NBA’s restart:
- Tim Bontemps, Bobby Marks, Kevin Pelton, and Mike Schmitz of ESPN take an in-depth look at the proposed Chicago campus for the NBA’s bottom eight teams, examining the hurdles that would need to be overcome to make it a reality, what exactly the event would look like, and more.
- In a lengthy roundup, ESPN relays quotes from players, coaches, and executives about the NBA’s restart, including players explaining their decisions to participate, individuals discussing safety concerns, and much more.
- The fact that Walt Disney World employees will be coming and going from the NBA’s campus may be the Achilles heel of the league’s plans. As Ryan Gillespie of The Orlando Sentinel details, many Disney employees live in areas of Florida being hit hardest by COVID-19
Heat Close Facility For Second Time Following New COVID-19 Case
The Heat have once again closed their AmericanAirlines Arena practice facility for player workouts, reports Ethan Skolnick of 5 Reasons Sports (Twitter link).
According to Skolnick, a second Heat player has tested positive for the coronavirus, prompting the shutdown. Miami previously closed its facility following Derrick Jones‘ positive COVID-19 test. It’s not clear in this case which player tested positive for the virus, but it’s a rotation player, according to Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (Twitter link).
It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Heat keep their building close for workouts until the team travels to the Walt Disney World campus next week. Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald suggests (via Twitter) that the club is likely to resume its workouts in Orlando, where group activities will be permitted for players who return two negative tests at least 24 hours apart.
The Heat are one of a number of teams that have temporarily closed their facilities following positive coronavirus tests. The Nuggets, Suns, Clippers, and Nets are also known to have done so, though some have since reopened.
Coronavirus testing will still take place at AmericanAirlines Arena while the practice facility is closed, Skolnick notes.
Clippers Close Facility Following Positive COVID-19 Test
The Clippers became the latest NBA team to close their practice facility following a positive COVID-19 test by a member of their traveling party, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Sources tell ESPN that the Clippers may be able to reopen their practice facility for workouts in the coming days. However, it won’t be long until the team travels to Orlando — that’s scheduled to happen on Wednesday, as Woj writes.
The Clippers are one of a handful of teams that have temporarily shut down their practice facilities. The Nuggets, Suns, Heat, and Nets are also known to have done so, though most have since reopened.
According to an NBA announcement on Thursday, 25 players and 10 team staffers have tested positive for the coronavirus since mandatory testing began last Tuesday, June 23. As such, it’s possible there were other clubs that temporarily closed their facilities to ensure their buildings were safe for players and coaches.
Only individual workouts are taking place at teams’ practice facilities — group workouts and scrimmages won’t begin until after the top 22 clubs have traveled to Walt Disney World and gone through a brief quarantine period.
Western Notes: Mitchell, Thunder, Williamson, Burke
Jazz teammates Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert appear to be patching up their relationship, Sarah Todd of the Deseret News writes. “Right now we’re good,” Mitchell said in a Zoom conference with the media. “We’re going out there ready to hoop.” In the wake of his positive test for COVID-19 in March, Mitchell was said to be frustrated with Gobert. the first NBA player to test positive. The situation reportedly remained tense even after Mitchell recovered from the virus.
We have more from the Western Conference:
- While 25 players around the NBA have tested positive for the novel coronavirus since June 23, there have been no positive tests among Thunder players and staff members, Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman reports. All players have returned to Oklahoma City for mandatory individual workouts and the team will fly to Orlando next week.
- Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry is confident rookie star Zion Williamson will continue to make a big impact once plays resumes, he indicated in a interview with William Guillory of The Athletic. “I think he’s worked extremely hard during the time away,” Gentry said. “I think, to some degree, you’ll see everybody a little rusty when we come back because we’ve been away for so long. But he’ll get himself right, and I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t pick up right where he left off. “
- The Mavericks felt they had enough depth up front to replace Willie Cauley-Stein, which is why they signed point guard Trey Burke as a substitute player, according to Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com. Dallas also had a need in the backcourt with Jalen Brunson and Courtney Lee injured. “As we looked at the profile of the team, we felt there was more of a need at that backup (guard spot), scoring off the bench,” president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson said. Cauley-Stein was one of the players who opted out of the restart.
Restart Notes: Campus Cost, DeRozan, Coronavirus, More
The NBA and its players stand to lose a significant amount of money if the 2019/20 season can’t be completed, but operating the campus at Walt Disney World from July through October won’t be cheap either. According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, the endeavor is expected to cost the league more than $150MM.
As Windhorst explains, the NBA will be responsible for housing 22 teams’ travel parties at three Disney resorts, with basketball being played on seven practice courts and at three arenas. Additionally, the league will be paying for meals, security, transportation, entertainment, and medical support, including daily COVID-19 testing. Plus, the NBA won’t be getting any of the revenue it typically earns from ticket sales and in-arena purchases.
Still, based on the television revenue the NBA is salvaging, completing the season will allow players to retain more than $600MM in salary that would be lost if the season is canceled, says Windhorst.
Here’s more on the league’s restart:
- Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan admitted today that he didn’t have an easy time making it through the NBA’s 113-page handbook of health and safety protocols for the Orlando campus, as ESPN’s Royce Young writes. “The ping-pong thing is ridiculous, to be honest,” DeRozan said, referring to doubles ping-pong games being prohibited. “Guys can’t do this, but we can do this and battle over each other? That part just don’t make no sense to me. I got through 10 lines of the handbook and just put it down because it became so frustrating and overwhelming at times, because you just never thought you’d be in a situation of something like this. So it’s hard to process at times.”
- Shams Charania of The Athletic provides some details on the mandatory virtual meetings being held this week with the 22 teams going to Orlando, referred to as “campus orientation meetings.” Players have been told during those meetings that the NBA and NBPA are working to ensure that a larger group of Disney staffers will be subject to a COVID-19 testing protocol, says Charania.
- After word broke that six FC Dallas players tested positive for the coronavirus upon arriving to the MLS Disney campus, Bobby Marks of ESPN notes (via Twitter) that July 7-11 will be a crucial period for the NBA as the league looks to avoid a similar outbreak after teams arrive in Orlando.
- Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN takes a look at how NBA head coaches are preparing for and approaching the unprecedented NBA restart following a four-month layoff.