Growing Concern About NBA’s Restart Plan
Even as the NBA works to finalize specific dates for various aspects of its resumed season, there’s “growing concern” about the plan among players, according to Howard Beck of Bleacher Report (via Twitter).
Taylor Rooks of Bleacher Report (via Twitter) reports that approximately 150 players are planning to take part in a conference call tonight to discuss what they can do to take a stand expressing their concerns and reservations about the league’s Orlando plan.
Beck (Twitter link) hears that up to 200 players may be involved in that call, adding that NBPA vice president Kyrie Irving has been a “driving force” in raising concerns and organizing player discussions. Irving believes that the idea of not returning to play should be considered, given the importance of the anti-racism activism currently happening in the U.S. and around the world, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
According to Beck, one agent estimated that about two-thirds of the league’s top 40 players may refuse to play based on the current information presented by the league.
As we’ve detailed in previous stories, players’ concerns are related to their health and safety, spending significant time away from their families, and directing the spotlight away from social justice issues. Beck suggests that the proposed restrictions involving freedom of movement within the so-called “bubble” in Orlando are also a key factor.
Although players will technically be allowed to leave the campus-like Disney environment after reporting in July, as Jared Dudley explained last month, recent reports have suggested they’d be subject to a 10-day quarantine period for doing so. In other words, leaving the “bubble” likely wouldn’t be a viable option for a player once the season officially resumes, since it would mean missing at least four or five games.
On top of that, as ESPN’s Zach Lowe (video link) and Tom Haberstroh of NBC Sports (Twitter link) have pointed out today, the Disney support staff involved in the restart won’t be subject to the same protocols as players, coaches, and other NBA personnel. Those Disney staffers would be free to come and go from the premises as needed, without necessarily being tested daily for COVID-19.
Players who are already apprehensive about spending weeks or months on the Disney campus may push back against the idea of doing so if they feel as if the “bubble” isn’t really a bubble and that their safety could be compromised by support staffers.
Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (Twitter links) hears from a Walt Disney World source that there would be Disney employees willing to stay in the “bubble” for months on end to help complete the season and reduce health risks, but it’s unclear whether Disney and/or the NBA would ask those staffers to do so.
Many Players Disappointed About Not Getting Vote On Restart
When the National Basketball Players Association approved the NBA’s plan last Friday to resume the 2019/20 season in Orlando, only the union’s executive committee and individual team representatives participated in that vote.
That hasn’t sat well with a number of players around the NBA, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, who hears from sources that a “significant” number of players are disappointed that not everyone was given the opportunity to vote on the matter.
[RELATED: Not All Players Bullish On NBA’s Restart Plan]
There’s a sense that many players’ voices weren’t heard on what could be a “life-changing” decision, sources tell Yahoo Sports. Some agents have encouraged their clients to speak up and to talk to the NBPA about pushing for a more collaborative system, Haynes adds.
According to Haynes, some players have been reluctant to express their opinions because most of the league’s superstars are “adamant” about finishing the season if the NBA institutes adequate safety protocols. Haynes notes that a faction of players remain uncertain about the resumption of the season due to the lack of information available about those coronavirus-related health and safety protocols, which are still being negotiated.
Interestingly, as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and analyst Matt Barnes have alluded to, a number of players are also taking into account the recent social justice protests following the death of George Floyd as they weigh their options. According to Haynes, some players believe the optics of a predominantly black league resuming play in a bubble to “entertain the masses” and to salvage TV deals aren’t great.
“What message are we sending by agreeing to this during this time?” one player said to Haynes. “We’re out here marching and protesting, and yet we all leave our families in these scary times and gather to perform at a place where the owners won’t be at? What type of sense does that make? We’ll be going backwards. That place isn’t that magical.”
Conversely, Nets guard and NBPA vice president Garrett Temple told Malika Andrews of ESPN that he thinks playing games – and earning pay checks – is an effective way of combating the systemic oppression of black people.
“The difference in the economic gap between white America and black America is astronomical,” Temple said. “I can’t in good conscience tell my brethren to throw away millions of dollars in order to create change that I don’t see the direct impact of — if there was a direct impact of laws changing, that would be a different story.”
Appearing on J.J. Redick‘s podcast (video link), Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon, another NBPA VP, acknowledged both sides of that issue.
“(Some) guys are going to say, ‘The black community and my people are going through too much for me to basically be distracted with basketball, I’m not going to prioritize this over the black community, I’m going to sit out,” Brogdon said. “”And then there’s another group of guys – and these are all black perspectives – who are going to say, ‘No, this is the most amount of money I’m going to make in my lifetime. It doesn’t make sense to hand this money back. I can do so much good in my community if I have this money.’
“… My thing is, if you’re going to sit out, you have to have demands. You have to have policies that you want to see change,” Brogdon continued. “There has to be something very organized and strategized to go into that.”
Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link) reported earlier today that the NBA and NBPA are still working through the health and safety protocols for the resumed season. Once those protocols are in place, players with safety concerns should have more information to make informed decisions. However, the social-justice concerns that players have may require further discussions between the league and union.
More Details On NBA’s Summer Roster Rules
A report on Thursday indicated that NBA teams resuming the season in Orlando will be permitted to bring 17 players, rather than 15. However, that report didn’t provide many additional details, creating uncertainty about how certain roster and eligibility rules will work this summer.
In a story for ESPN, Adrian Wojnarowski and Bobby Marks shed some more light on the roster rules that have reportedly been agreed upon, though those rules haven’t yet been officially announced. Here are a few of the highlights from ESPN’s duo:
- Free agent players will be eligible to sign into teams’ open roster spots. A previous report suggested that only players who were on NBA or G League contracts already in 2019/20 would be eligible to join teams headed to Orlando, but that won’t be the case, per ESPN and Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Sources tell Charania that players who signed NBA or G League contracts in previous seasons will also be eligible, meaning players like J.R. Smith or Jamal Crawford could be signed.
- Players who were in international leagues rather than the NBA in 2019/20 wouldn’t be eligible to sign with teams this summer if they didn’t have FIBA clearance when the season was suspended in March.
- The 17-man limit for Orlando is made up of a standard 15-man roster and the usual two-way roster spots. In other words, a team with 15 players on standard contracts and one on a two-way deal couldn’t sign a veteran free agent to a standard pact.
- As Woj and Marks note, that means that the Nets, who have a full roster, could designate two-way players Chris Chiozza and Jeremiah Martin to replace injured stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, but couldn’t sign two new veterans to replace Durant and Irving without the necessary roster spots available.
- Playoff rosters will consist of 15 players — 13 active and two inactive. After the postseason starts, teams can only sign a new player if they’re replacing a player who tested positive for COVID-19. Based on previous reports, it sounds as if a player who contracts the coronavirus would become ineligible for the rest of the playoffs if his team signs a substitute player to replace him, but that’s not certain.
- If one of the 22 Orlando teams converts a two-way player to a standard contract during the late-June transaction window, that team will be able to sign a two-way player to replace him, according to Woj and Marks. However, the eight teams not resuming play won’t be allowed to sign players to two-way deals during that time.
These rules aren’t yet finalized and some will require further clarification. For instance, it remains unclear if a player like Thunder wing Luguentz Dort will need to have his two-way deal converted into a standard contract to participate in the playoffs. According to Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times, it sounds like that wouldn’t be necessary — the expectation, Greif says, is that two-way players will be eligible for the playoffs if designated as one of their team’s 15 postseason players.
With the proposed June 22 transaction window inching closer, it should just be a matter of time before the NBA finalizes and announces its roster rules for the summer.
Restart Notes: Player Concerns, Reporters, Announcers
After reporting on Wednesday that several dozen players have expressed reservations about the NBA’s plan to resume its season in Orlando this summer, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski provided a few more details in a full story and in subsequent tweets.
According to Wojnarowski, approximately 40 to 50 players were “on and off” a conference call in a 24-hour stretch from Tuesday to Wednesday to discuss their concerns. However, there has been no formal petition to the NBPA from any group asking not to be included in the restart, sources tell ESPN.
The “restrictive and isolated” nature of the proposed Orlando bubble is a major issue being discussed ny those concerned players, per Wojnarowski. Players who leave the bubble are expected to be subjected a 10-day quarantine, and family members won’t be permitted to join players at Disney until after the first round of the playoffs — players will have been in Orlando for nearly two months by that point.
It remains to be seen how many players will seriously consider skipping the restart altogether. However, sources tell ESPN that if a player does decide not to participate, his team will likely be permitted to replace him with a substitution player. A player who is supplanted by a replacement player wouldn’t be eligible to participate in the remainder of the season, Woj notes. In other words, a player who stays home and gets replaced wouldn’t be able to change his mind and report to Orlando if his team makes a deep postseason run.
According to Wojnarowski, if a player has a medical issue that may increase his risk of suffering more serious COVID-19 symptoms, he’ll be permitted to seek an independent medical evaluation. Even if he’s deemed fit to participate in the resumed season, the player could stay home without consequence (beyond not being paid for the games they miss).
Here’s more on the NBA’s restart:
- According to a Professional Basketball Writers Association memo obtained by Robert Silverman of The Daily Beast, there’s a chance that a select group of reporters could be permitted to cover the resumed season and interact with players and coaches in Orlando. However, those reporters wouldn’t be permitted to re-enter the bubble if they leave, and their employers would have to pay for their housing during their three months at Disney, the cost of which may be prohibitive for many outlets.
- ABC and ESPN play-by-play announcer Mike Breen isn’t sure what the plans are for his role this summer, but hopes he’ll get the opportunity to call games in person in Orlando, as he tells Richard Deitsch of The Athletic. “We could possibly be doing games from a remote location, from a studio, or we could possibly be down in Orlando and doing the games there in a booth that socially distanced away from the players,” Breen said. “Everything is going to be determined over the next couple of weeks. But I would like to be in the arena to call the games.”
- A panel of ESPN writers takes a closer look at the nine competitors for the final three playoff spots, evaluating the cases for and against the Grizzlies, Trail Blazers, Pelicans, Kings, Spurs, Suns, Nets, Magic, and Wizards earning a postseason berth.
Not All Players Bullish On NBA’s Restart Plan
A faction of NBA players has been discussing as a group whether restarting the season in Orlando is a good idea, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that “several dozen” players took part in a conference call within the last 24 hours to talk about the issue.
Even as the NBA and NBPA get closer to reaching an agreement on many details tied to the league’s return to play, some players are hesitant to fully embrace the plan and have been discussing issues related to the return, including concerns about their families, COVID-19, and social justice, says Wojnarowski.
Players aren’t expected to be permitted to bring family members into the Orlando bubble until September, after the first round of the postseason concludes. Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press tweets that he has heard “many” players are unhappy about that fact.
Meanwhile, coronavirus cases appear to be on the rise in Florida, including in the Orange County region, where the NBA’s return would take place, as Reynolds tweets. Additionally, NBA analyst and former player Matt Barnes told Josiah Johnson (Twitter link) over the weekend that he has spoken to some players who want the rest of the season canceled in order to focus on addressing injustices in the Black community.
It’s not clear, based on Woj’s reporting, what percentage of players are having reservations about the resumption of the season or if their concerns will slow down a potential agreement between the league and the players’ union. However, even if those concerned players are outnumbered, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be forced to report to Orlando.
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), the NBA and NBPA will likely agree on a provision that will ensure players aren’t subjected to discipline if they decide to stay home this summer when play resumes. Those players would lose a portion of their salaries for the games they miss, but otherwise wouldn’t be fined or suspended.
It remains to be seen how serious an issue this could be as the NBA gears up for a restart — we should get a better sense in the coming days and weeks about how many players are reluctant to participate and whether they’ll feel pressured to do so.
Restart Notes: Medical Reviews, Announcers, More
The NBA is expected to ask team personnel members to submit their personal medical histories to a panel of physicians in advance of this summer’s resumption in Orlando, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe.
As Wojnarowski and Lowe explain, that panel would assess each individual’s level of risk for serious health complications due to the coronavirus. If certain individuals are deemed to be “more vulnerable to severe coronavirus outcomes,” the panel may recommend that they don’t travel to Orlando.
Wojnarowski and Lowe caution that the NBA and its panel likely won’t have the authority to prohibit anyone outright from participating in the resumption of the season in Orlando based on potential health risks. Legal experts tell ESPN that the league also wouldn’t be able to exclude anyone based solely on that person’s age, including head coaches Gregg Popovich (Spurs), Mike D’Antoni (Rockets), and Alvin Gentry (Pelicans), all of whom are at least 65 years old.
Still, as Woj and Lowe write, it’s possible that the NBA’s medical review process could result in a recommendation that the league and an individual’s team strongly encourages them to follow. The NBA also could place certain limitations on those deemed to be at higher risk, a possibility that is causing some “anxiety” among teams, sources tell ESPN.
As we wait to see what measures the league takes in an attempt to keep its players, coaches, and other staffers as safe as possible, let’s round up a few more notes on the NBA’s restart…
- It sounds like play-to-play announcers and color commentators will call games remotely when play resumes this summer. TNT’s Kevin Harlan said as much during a SiriusXM NBA Radio interview, as Richard Deitsch of The Athletic relays. “What I’ve heard from the folks at TNT is we will be in the studios in Atlanta and they will set up as close to possible a broadcast table like we would have courtside,” Harlan said. “We will have, I’m assuming, crowd noise pumped into our headsets. I think for the viewer, I don’t think it’s going to seem dramatically different.” Harlan added that it’s possible broadcasters could be brought to Orlando late in the postseason.
- Appearing on ESPN’s First Take (video link), Brian Windhorst describes some of the challenges that players will face living in the Orlando bubble and explores how drug testing will work.
- Although all eight teams not invited to Orlando this summer agree that they’d like to be able to conduct some form of offseason activities with their players, those teams aren’t necessarily in lockstep about what that should look like, and there are plenty of logistical hurdles to work through, writes Mark Medina of USA Today.
Raptors Still Figuring Out Border Logistics For Summer Camp
The tentative schedule the NBA has proposed for its return to play this summer would see players report to their teams’ respective markets within the next couple weeks, with training camps reportedly getting underway around the end of June and then resuming after teams travel to Orlando around July 7-9.
For the Raptors, however, that timeline is complicated by the international travel it requires amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. While players shouldn’t have trouble getting approval to fly from the United States to Canada and vice versa, it’s not clear what sort of quarantine periods might be required following those flights and whether that would impact the team’s plans.
Addressing the subject today on a call with reporters, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse said that the franchise is still working through a number of scenarios in the hopes of having practices before heading to Orlando in July. There’s an expectation that the NBA will approve group workouts in the coming weeks, but Nurse isn’t sure whether the Raps would hold a pre-Orlando camp in Canada or the United States.
“We haven’t really made a final decision on it on a date to reconvene, or where we’re going, or any of that kind of stuff yet,” Nurse said, per Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. “We’ve made plans on both sides of the border, just for doing it as safe as possible. It’s kind of our first and foremost priority — then maybe as quickly as possible, too.”
As Reynolds notes, some Raptors players are currently in Toronto, but others are still in their home cities in the U.S. Currently, Canadian government regulations call for a 14-day quarantine period for anyone traveling into the country. Assuming players are subject to those same regulations, it might not make sense for them to travel to Toronto, quarantine for two weeks, then work out for a week or two before heading back across the border.
On the other hand, convening in a U.S. city for a week or two before Orlando would mean the Raptors – who hope to make a deep playoff run into at least September – would be away from home for an even longer stretch and could be the only team not resuming practices in their own facility.
The NBA hasn’t officially finalized its summer calendar yet, so we’ll probably have to wait for confirmation on those tentative camp dates before the Raptors set their own plans.
Restart Notes: Deadlines, Roster Moves, Nets, Mavs, More
Decisions on player options for 2020/21 would typically be due later this month, but those deadlines will have to be pushed back, along with certain salary guarantee dates, trade exception expiry dates, and a handful of other key deadlines tied to the NBA’ offseason calendar.
As Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer details, a straightforward solution is being negotiated for adjusting those dates. The expectation is that they’ll be postponed in direct correlation with the new date for the start of the 2020/21 league year. For now, the new league year is tentatively scheduled to begin on October 18 instead of July 1.
In other words, if a player option decision had previously been due by June 29, it would now need to be made by October 16. If a trade exception had been scheduled to expire on July 7, its new expiry date would be October 24.
For certain dates, more negotiation may be required. For instance, if a player had a September 1 salary guarantee date written into his contract, that deadline would’ve fallen two months after the start of the league year, but well before the start of training camp. Under the NBA’s proposed calendar for 2020/21, two months after the start of the league year would be December 18, well beyond the target tip-off date of December 1. Still, for the most part, the solution O’Connor describes sounds like the most logical way forward.
Here’s more on the NBA’s restart plans and its new-look schedule:
- With a transaction window expected to open around June 22, Bobby Marks of ESPN (Insider link) examines all 22 teams headed to Orlando this summer and speculates about what sort of roster tweaks they might make during that last week in June. As Marks notes, teams like the Nets (Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving) and Mavericks (Dwight Powell, Jalen Brunson) are candidates to sign multiple injury replacements at that time.
- Scott Gleeson of USA Today ranks the six non-playoff teams invited to Orlando in terms of their upset potential, suggesting that the Pelicans and Trail Blazers are the top two threats to steal a playoff spot.
- Although the Thunder and other small-market clubs will be part of the resumed season this summer, the coronavirus pandemic may have a long-term impact on how they operate, writes Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman.
Players Exiting Bubble Must Go Through Lengthy Quarantine
Any player who leaves Orlando’s “bubble” environment will have to quarantine at least 10 days and have two negative tests for COVID-19 in order to participate again, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
The same protocols will be employed if a player tests positive while in the Disney World complex, according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer.
The restrictions for players exiting the bubble should serve as a deterrent from straying outside the complex except for emergency and family reasons. If a player was caught off-campus for any other reason, they could jeopardize their team’s postseason aspirations and risk the ire of their teammates and coaches. They would have to miss multiple games, along with being confined to their rooms for 10 days or more.
With so many teams heading to Orlando, the NBA will try to stagger their arrival times for safety reasons, O’Connor hears. All teams are tentatively scheduled to arrive between July 7-9, followed by a coronavirus test and a 36-hour quarantine. The season is scheduled to restart on July 31.
Interestingly, the NBA is hopeful of using a saliva mouth swab as an alternative to the nasal swab if it proves reliable, O’Connor continues.
Prior to arriving at Orlando, teams would conduct two-week training camps with COVID-19 testing likely to occur every other day, O’Connor adds.
For more details on the return-to-play plan, click here.
Spurs Reopen Practice Facility
All 30 NBA teams have now reopened their practice facilities for voluntary individual workouts, with the Spurs becoming the last to do so.
General manager Brian Wright confirmed today on a Zoom call with reporters that the team’s gym is now open for player workouts, tweets Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News.
Like the rest of the NBA’s teams, the Spurs are limited to having four players in their practice facility at a time — those players can only conduct individual workouts and are subject to a series of strict safety protocols. Group activities remain prohibited, though there’s a hope around the league that the NBA will loosen those restrictions before the top 22 teams travel to Orlando next month.
It has now been a full month since the league first allowed teams to reopen their buildings for voluntary workouts with approval from local government and health officials. The Bulls, Celtics, Pistons, and Warriors were among the final few clubs to do so last week, leaving the Spurs as the only outstanding team until today.