Bucks Co-Owner: NBA Could Resume Play Within 6-8 Weeks
Appearing today on CNBC, Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry said he thinks the NBA is getting “a lot closer” to a potential return, adding that he believes games could resume sometime in early-to-mid July.
“I think we’ll have something, hopefully within the next six-to-eight weeks, we should be playing,” Lasry said on ‘Halftime Report,’ per Jabari Young of CNBC.
A report from Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic on Wednesday suggested the most popular scenario discussed by the NBA as of late would see the 2019/20 season resume in mid-July. Lasry’s projected timeline matches up with that report — eight weeks from today would be July 16.
Adding fuel to that fire, Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie tweeted this afternoon that he’s heard rumblings about a July 15 resumption, with Marc Stein of The New York Times noting (via Twitter) that many people around the league are “buzzing about the same rough time frame.”
Charania and Amick also said on Wednesday that Orlando has emerged as the “clear frontrunner” to host the NBA’s return. Lasry didn’t dispute that, though he indicated that he thinks the NBA might opt for a two-site approach, with Eastern teams playing in Orlando and Western teams in Las Vegas.
The NBA itself hasn’t made any announcements on potential plans, but there have been signals within the last couple days that momentum is building toward a formal update from the league within the next week or two. According to Young, Lasry noted today that the NBA has a Board of Governors call scheduled for next Friday.
“I’m sure we’ll be talking about it then,” the Bucks’ co-owner said.
Jared Dudley Explains How Proposed ‘Bubble’ Would Work
Assuming the NBA can resume its season, the league appears to be leaning strongly toward doing so in one or two centralized “bubble” locations, where players and teams will stay and play their games for two or three months. Discussing that scenario during a video conference call on Wednesday, Lakers forward Jared Dudley explained that players and others inside the bubble wouldn’t be forced into quarantine during their time there.
“You will be allowed to leave,” Dudley said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “Now just because you leave, if we’re going to give you that leeway, if you come back with corona, you can’t play.”
[RELATED: NBA Discussing Possibility Of July Return]
As Dudley noted – citing discussions with commissioner Adam Silver and NBPA executive director Michele Roberts – the plan is for frequent COVID-19 testing to take place within that bubble, which Silver has referred to as a “campus”-like environment in which players can spend time at hotels, gyms, and dining areas. However, the veteran forward suspects that not every player will be satisfied to remain within that limited space for the duration of the season.
“When you’re dealing with 300 different players — if you’ve seen (The Last Dance), every team’s got a (Dennis) Rodman. He just doesn’t have green and blue hair,” Dudley said. “There’s always someone who’s outside the box, who does that, takes the risk and says, ‘Hey, listen, man, I’m healthy, and I feel good.'”
Still, Dudley doesn’t think there are many players who would take that risk, pointing out that contracting the coronavirus during an outside excursion would force the player out of action for at least a couple weeks and would put his teammates at risk. As such, there will be “added pressure” not to do so. Dudley also believes that individual teams, like his Lakers, would impress upon their players that they don’t want them to leave, even if the NBA doesn’t explicitly prevent it.
“Bron, AD and all the top guys we have, we’ll be wrapping them in a bubble and not letting them go anywhere,” Dudley said. “You’ll have that be a team rule. Now, it won’t be a league, an NBA rule, but you’d want to say, ‘Listen, guys, we’ve come too far. We’re going to put our family on hold. … It’s going to be hard for two months, but it’s something we have to sacrifice.'”
As we relayed on Wednesday, Walt Disney World – near Orlando – has emerged as a “clear frontrunner” to host a potential NBA return. McMenamin notes within his report that ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe have heard the league is considering a two-site format which would also include Las Vegas.
NBA Teams Expect Guidelines For Ramp-Up Period Around June 1
NBA teams expect the league to issue formal guidelines around June 1 detailing the first steps of a ramp-up to the resumption of the 2019/20 season, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe.
As ESPN’s duo explains, the first step of that ramp-up process would involve teams recalling players who left their respective markets during the hiatus. Clubs also believe they’ll be able to expand workouts for players already in their market around June 1, sources tell Wojnarowski and Lowe.
According to ESPN’s report, the NBA envisions a ramp-up process that would include an initial two-week period of recalling and possibly quarantining players. That would be followed by a week or two of individual workouts at team facilities, then a two- or three-week formal training camp. From there, teams would likely eventually travel to one or two centralized locations where the season would resume.
[RELATED: Orlando ‘Clear Frontrunner’ To Host NBA Return]
Earlier today, The Athletic reported that the most popular scenario discussed by the NBA would see players fully training by mid-June, with games resuming by mid-July. It sounds as if Wojnarowski and Lowe are hearing a similar timeline suggested — sources tell ESPN that many team owners, executives, and NBPA higher-ups believe commissioner Adam Silver will green-light a return to play in June, with games resuming before the end of July.
The NBA and NBPA still have to work out many details on a potential return, including whether or not regular season games will be played, whether all 30 teams will resume play, and what the playoffs will look like, sources tell ESPN.
Additionally, for some teams, recalling players to their market may not be as simple as having them travel across a state or two. Luka Doncic, for instance, returned to Europe during the hiatus. And the Raptors will have to deal with a U.S./Canada border that is closed to non-essential travel for at least another month. However, the league expects to receive assistance from the U.S. government for any teams and players requiring international travel, per Woj and Lowe.
NBA Discussing Possibility Of July Return
The most popular – and possible – scenario proposed in NBA discussions about the potential completion of the 2019/20 season would see players “fully training” by mid-June and games resuming by mid-July, multiple sources tell Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic.
That doesn’t necessarily mean anything yet, since there are many hurdles to overcome before such a plan could be solidified. Commissioner Adam Silver also told NBA team owners just last Tuesday during a Board of Governors call that he’d take about two-to-four weeks to keep gathering information before making any decisions.
Still, given all the NBA has done on the coronavirus pandemic, the fact that the league believes such a scenario is plausible is a positive sign. This update comes on the heels of Charania and Amick reporting that Walt Disney World in Florida is the “clear frontrunner” to become the centralized location where NBA games are played this summer.
In their full story on Disney’s increasing momentum, Charania and Amick write that the league continues to explore the possibility of playing games in multiple cities, but that it appears likely that Orlando would be a “sole host.” Some details still need to be worked out regarding coronavirus testing and hotel use in Florida before anything can be finalized, according to The Athletic’s duo.
Here’s more on the issues the NBA will have to resolve in order to safely resume its season:
- The NBA will have to finalize a detailed set of safety protocols like Major League Baseball has attempted to do, and will need to establish consistent COVID-19 testing guidelines for all its teams, tweets Marc Stein of The New York Times. Stein also notes that it remains unclear whether all 30 clubs would be involved in the resumption of the season.
- Due to the possibility of false negative coronavirus test results and the fact that individuals won’t be entirely quarantined, players and staffers in the NBA’s “bubble” location will need to be tested frequently, writes Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer.
- However, as O’Connor explains, “group testing” could potentially be one way to limit the total number of tests used so that the league isn’t going through thousands every week. For instance, up to 20 samples or so could potentially be mixed into the same test, and if it comes back positive, those 20 people could be tested individually. In this scenario, repeated testing would still be crucial due to the possibility of false negatives, but group testing could mean going through hundreds of tests at a time instead of thousands.
Suns Reopening Practice Facility
The Suns have joined the list of teams inviting players back to their practice facility for voluntary individual workouts, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link).
Making their facility available was a little more complicated for the Suns than for most teams, since the club’s Talking Stick Resort Arena is undergoing renovations and its new practice facility is under construction. As previously noted, and as Stein confirms today, Phoenix will use its old arena, the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, for workouts.
As is the case for every other NBA team reopening a practice facility, the Suns will be subject to the NBA’s strict regulations, which call for no more than four players in the building at a time.
The Suns are the 19th team known to have reopened its facility. Earlier today, when we passed along word of the Timberwolves reopening their building, we listed the 12 clubs that had yet to do so — we can now remove Phoenix from that list.
Stein reported earlier this week that teams may end up conducting de facto training camps at their own facilities this summer before traveling to a centralized location to resume the 2019/20 season, so it’s a step in the right direction that nearly two-thirds of the NBA’s teams have reopened so far.
Orlando ‘Clear Frontrunner’ To Host NBA Return
Orlando and Walt Disney World have emerged as the “clear frontrunner” to host a potential NBA return this summer, according to Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic (Twitter links). “All the momentum” is going Orlando’s way, Amick notes.
The Athletic’s report is the latest in a serious of signals that Orlando is gaining traction as a likely “bubble” location for the resumption of the 2019/20 season. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said as much on a TV appearance earlier this week and Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News (Twitter link) issued a similar report on Tuesday afternoon.
While the NBA is aiming to complete its season, it almost certainly won’t do so with teams playing in their home arenas, since the league doesn’t want players and teams traveling all over the country. As such, the likeliest scenario is a summer return in one or two centralized locations. Las Vegas, Houston, and Toronto are among the other sites that have been mentioned as possibilities.
[RELATED: Houston Among Resumption Sites Being Considered By NBA]
However, as Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports first outlined in April, Walt Disney World stands out as an appealing option for several reasons. It has more than enough hotel rooms to accommodate up to 30 NBA teams, and the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is capable of housing several, broadcast-ready basketball courts.
Furthermore, as Smith noted, the NBA has an existing broadcast with Disney, which owns ABC and ESPN; Walt Disney World is private property, which would be useful in creating the necessary “bubble”; Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was also one of the first government officials to announce his state would reopen for professional sports (without fans in attendance).
Even if the NBA moves forward with playing games in Walt Disney World, it’s possible a second neutral site will be used as well, tweets Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer.
All NBA Teams Expected To Participate In COVID-19 Antibodies Study
The Timberwolves and the Mayo Clinic are spearheading a study on COVID-19 antibodies that is expected to include all 30 teams, according to Malika Andrews of ESPN, who says the study will likely be completed in June.
As Andrews explains, the study aims to determine what percentage of NBA players, coaches, executives, and other staffers have developed antibodies to the coronavirus. The results should provide doctors and researchers with more information on what the presence of antibodies means. The study should also help NBA teams better map the spread of COVID-19 throughout the league and potentially identify which people have a lower risk of contracting the virus.
According to Andrews and Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, the Mayo Clinic is using a finger-prick method for detecting antibodies and are hoping to establish that it’s just as effective and less invasive than the usual method of drawing blood from a vein.
“It would be hugely helpful because the fingerstick blood draw could be done at home and the sample could be mailed in for testing at a lab,” Dr. Priya Sampathkumar, a Mayo Clinic consultant, told O’Connor. “Vast numbers of people could be tested without any need to go to the hospital or a clinic to receive a blood draw.”
According to O’Connor, about 400 people from approximately half the NBA’s teams have participated in the study so far, with the rest of the clubs expected to join that list soon as practice facilities around the league continue to open — the blood draws have been taking place at those facilities. NBPA executive director Michele Roberts tells The Ringer that players are “fully on board” with providing samples for the study.
“Our players have embraced the opportunity to contribute to this important public health study that will help researchers better understand the prevalence of COVID-19, potentially improve care for patients, and promote long-term efforts to develop a vaccine and treatment for the virus,” she said.
Houston Among Resumption Sites Being Considered By NBA
We can add Houston to the list of potential “bubble” locations being considered by the NBA as it explores resuming the 2019/20 season, according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. Assuming the season can be completed, it’s expected to happen at one or two neutral sites rather than at each team’s home arena.
Multiple sources tell The Ringer that Houston is under consideration, with O’Connor noting that the Rockets‘ Toyota Center is adjacent to the George R. Brown Convention Center. Combined, they’d have the necessary facilities to host NBA teams and games, O’Connor says.
Additionally, Texas Governor Greg Abbott stated earlier this week that his state is targeting May 31 for professional sports without spectators, so the NBA presumably wouldn’t face any legislative roadblocks if it looked to play games in Houston.
Still, while Houston may be an option for the NBA, I’d be surprised if the league goes that route. Orlando and Las Vegas have long been considered the frontrunners to host games and look like the more logical candidates, given their facilities; ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski suggested during a TV appearance this week that Orlando seems to be gaining traction.
Toronto was previously cited as another city that has received NBA consideration as a “bubble” location.
Timberwolves To Reopen Practice Facility
The Timberwolves will reopen their practice facility for voluntary individual workouts on Thursday, May 21, the team announced today in a press release.
According to the announcement, the Wolves worked in conjunction with local government officials, infectious disease experts and public health authorities in making their decision.
On top of the strict restrictions put in place by the NBA for teams reopening their facilities, the Wolves will enact a few of their own rules. According to the club, only one player and one coach will be permitted on the court at a time, and player workouts will be limited to 45 minutes. Additionally, contact tracing will be administered upon entry to the building, per the Wolves.
The Timberwolves will become the 18th team known to have reopened its practice facility for individual workouts. The Bulls, Celtics, Hornets, Knicks, Mavericks, Nets, Pistons, Sixers, Spurs, Suns, Warriors, and Wizards are the 12 clubs that have yet to do so.
Fertitta, Rivers Express Confidence About Resuming Season
Participating in a roundtable discussion at the White House on Monday with fellow restaurant executives and industry leaders, Tilman Fertitta was put on the spot by President Donald Trump, who asked the Rockets owner where things stand with the NBA. As ESPN’s Tim MacMahon of ESPN details, Fertitta expressed confidence that the league will be able to resume and complete its season.
“I think what they’re doing is waiting to see what happens in certain states and if we’re going to be able to play,” Fertitta said. “Making sure the virus continues to go in the right direction in the next few weeks. And I think that if things are going in the way that it’s going, I think the NBA, the commissioner Adam Silver, who has done an unbelievable job through this, and the 30 owners will make the decision to try to start the season up again.
“… I think that we would play some games just to get it going again and create interest and then go right into the playoffs,” the Rockets’ owner added, when asked by Trump whether the NBA would move directly to the postseason. “But I think it’ll be great for America. We’re all missing sports and everybody wants to see these great NBA teams.”
Meanwhile, like Fertitta, Clippers head coach Doc Rivers is optimistic that the likelihood of an NBA return this summer is trending in the right direction, per Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times.
“We have this saying right now with our team called ‘Win The Wait,’ and so we’re trying to win the wait meaning we believe there’s going to be a season, we really do,” Rivers told Turner Sports’ Ernie Johnson during a Monday interview. “And if there is we cannot let this disruption be the reason that we don’t win. We want to be fully ready if and when we get the start button.”
Although the confidence expressed by Fertitta and Rivers is a good sign, the NBA is still working through potential plans as it determines the best way to resume its 2019/20 campaign. Appearing this morning on The Dan Patrick Show (video link), Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN shed a little more light on the league’s latest discussions, suggesting that – in terms of potential host cities – Orlando has gained traction.
“I think the question’s going to be, are they going to put all the teams in one place? Are they going to perhaps have teams moving among two sites, based on an Eastern/Western Conference scenario?” Woj said. “The one thing Adam Silver has told the players and the owners that he doesn’t want are teams flying around. You’re not going to see what baseball’s proposing, which is teams moving around, playing in home stadiums.
“The NBA’s focused on a one-site, no-fans (plan). They’re going to deal with trying to get back into arenas again for the start of next season.”
While the league’s goal is to play the rest of the season in one or two centralized locations, one possible scenario would see teams conducting de facto training camps at their own practice facilities before traveling to one of those “bubble” locations, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link).
So far, 17 of the NBA’s 30 teams are known to have reopened their respective practice facilities, though group workouts and practices remain prohibited.