NBA Closing Team Facilities Starting Friday
The NBA is temporarily shutting down all 30 teams’ training facilities to staff and players as of Friday in an effort to further mitigate the coronavirus situation, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter).
Teams were informed of that change in policy by the league in a memo on Thursday, Charania adds (via Twitter).
At the start of this week, the NBA extended its ban on group practices indefinitely but indicated that team facilities could remain open and players could conduct individual workouts there, as long as they maintained a safe distance from one another.
However, in recent days, a number of teams had closed their facilities of their own accord. As much as clubs wanted players to have a place to get work in, they were “uneasy” about the contact even in that limited environment, says ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
The edict from the NBA ensures that all 30 teams are on equal footing as the league hunkers down for a lengthy layoff.
International Notes: Australia, China, Turkey, EuroLeague
After canceling the remainder of their best-of-five Grand Final series earlier this week due to the coronavirus pandemic, Australia’s National Basketball League announced today that the Perth Wildcats have been crowned champions for 2019/20. Perth was leading the Sydney Kings 2-1 in the series when it was canceled.
In a statement, NBL owner and executive chairman Larry Kestelman and commissioner Jeremy Loeliger explained the decision and announced that former standout Providence guard Bryce Cotton has been named the Grand Final MVP.
The NBL’s press releases this week have made it clear that the league’s decision to cancel the rest of the Grand Final series was made in large part because the Kings expressed they weren’t comfortable with continuing to play those games. Bogut, who said Sydney’s decision was made after “almost three hours of back and forth (and plenty of tears),” registered his displeasure with the way the NBL handled things.
“I want to go on record to say I am beyond embarrassed and disappointed in regards to how this was handled by our league from the week leading up to the Grand Final series. More to come at a later date re: that,” Bogut wrote in a Twitter note. “This has nothing to do with the result announced today and I wish to congratulate the Perth Wildcats on being crowned Champions.”
Here’s more international news from basketball leagues around the world:
- Jeremy Lin, Ekpe Udoh, and Antonio Blakeney are among the players who have now returned to China and will begin a two-week quarantine before returning to their respective CBA teams, per Emiliano Carchia of Sportando (Twitter links).
- The Turkish government has made the decision to suspend all sports in the country, including basketball, Carchia writes in a story at Sportando. Players in Turkey expressed dismay last week that games were continuing amid the coronavirus outbreak, as we noted at the time.
- The EuroLeague issued an update on the postponement of its season, addressing whether or not players are allowed to leave their respective cities, what will happen with this year’s EuroLeague Final Four, and much more. Carchia has the full memo at Sportando.
Heat, Wolves Among Latest To Provide Aid To Arena Workers
The Heat and AmericanAirlines Arena announced on Wednesday that they’ll be providing financial assistance to team and arena part-time staffers who have lost work as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Heat owner Micky Arison‘s foundation will be donating an additional $1MM to establish an initiative aimed at aiding employees and addressing other community needs in the coming months, Winderman adds.
Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor also announced this week that he’s pledging $1MM of relief to part-time workers at the Target Center, as Chris Hine of The Star Tribune details.
Miami and Minnesota join most of the rest of the NBA’s teams in having announced plans to assist their part-time arena workers displaced by the hiatus. A small handful of clubs, including the Jazz and Thunder, have yet to announce a formal plan or confirm that plans are in motion, but that isn’t to say that those teams won’t implement a program as well.
As Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune writes, Jazz center Rudy Gobert pledged $200K to part-time arena employees in Utah, but the team has yet to inform its 800+ part-time workers how that donation will be used or whether the franchise itself will be compensating its arena employees for lost games in any way — currently, staffers are only being paid for events they actually worked, according to Larsen, who notes that the Jazz ownership group seems “focused on job placement for their part-time employees, rather than subsidies.”
Coronavirus Update: NBPA, Pistons, Bulls, Lakers
Players association executive director Michele Roberts is the latest NBA figure to defend the level of coronavirus tests being given to basketball players, writes Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. Eight full teams have been tested in the past week, while many members of the general public are having difficulty getting access to the tests. Roberts said the players shouldn’t be blamed for the perceived inequity.
“There’s nothing irresponsible — if you’ve got that information (that you’ve been exposed) — about trying to get the tests,” Roberts said.“The problem that more of us can’t get the tests.”
Testing on NBA players has come under fire from a number of quarters, most notably New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio, who tweeted yesterday that teams shouldn’t be receiving the tests ahead of critically ill patients. His comments came in response to the news of testing on the Nets that revealed four players are positive.
“We were doing games where tens of thousands of people were coming into our arenas. We were exposing potentially a lot of people to being infected,” Roberts said. “I get it. If you’re 65 years old — I’m 64 — and you’re symptomatic and want to get tested, it must be difficult to hear about some young’uns getting tested. I get that. And the players get that. But to the extent that there was some effort to find out just how pervasive our infection was so that people would know.”
There’s more NBA news related to COVID-19:
- The Pistons tested 17 members of the traveling party that accompanied the team to New York and Philadelphia last week, reports Rod Beard of The Detroit News. It was revealed over the weekend that Christian Wood has tested positive for the virus, but the remaining tests haven’t been completed. Everyone who made the trip is being asked to remain in self-isolation through March 25, which is 14 days from the last game.
- After news broke about the Nets’ positive tests, the Bulls were placed under quarantine through March 22, according to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. That’s two weeks after the Bulls traveled to Brooklyn for a March 8 game. No one from the team’s traveling party has shown any symptoms of the virus, Johnson adds.
- Bill Oram of The Athletic is calling the Lakers “socially irresponsible” after a majority of the team was tested for the virus today at the team’s practice facility. Oram proposes teams that can afford to pay for testing should cover the costs for some at-risk patients.
- Teams are able to arrange testing so quickly because the league office asked all of them to contact infectious disease specialists and implement a process to have their players tested if necessary, explains Tania Ganguli of The Los Angeles Times. Many teams already had established connections with medical facilities that can provide testing.
And-Ones: Summer Olympics, Liggins, Pokusevski
It appears inevitable that the Summer Olympics will be delayed, possibly until 2021, writes Paul Newberry of The Associated Press. Even though organizers in Tokyo have been insisting they will be ready on time, Newberry can’t envision how the world will be able to compete when so many regions are currently devoting their resources to the coronavirus pandemic.
The IOC, which admitted this week that the virus situation is “changing day by day,” has considered holding the events at empty venues or canceling the games altogether. Newberry doesn’t see either solution as fair to the athletes who have worked years to prepare or to the Japanese people who bought tickets well in advance.
The U.S. men’s basketball team continues to prepare as if the games are being held this summer, but there’s a strong level of uncertainty, assistant coach Steve Kerr said Tuesday during a conference call with reporters, including Nick Friedell of ESPN.
“(Head coach Gregg Popovich) and I have spoken a couple of times over the last week or so,” Kerr said. “And everything’s just up in the air. There’s no sense of whether things are going to be delayed or anything. We’re all kind of sitting here wondering what’s going to happen, and so is the rest of the world. We’re just going to plan as if this is going to happen, and we’re going to try and put together a roster, and that’s all we can do.”
There’s more from around the basketball world:
- FIBA is examining alternatives if the qualifying tournaments to fill the four open Olympic spots can’t be played, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. The World Cup final standings or the FIBA rankings may be used to select the four teams.
- Former NBA swingman DeAndre Liggins is involved in a controversy with his Panionios team in Greece, relays Dario Skerletic of Sportando. Flex Basketball Management, which represents Liggins, tweeted a statement today claiming that he has not been registered with the Greek Basketball Federation and isn’t eligible to play, even though he has been with the team since February 12 and is under contract for the rest of the season. “The club was very misleading and did not pay him or agents, and did not cover flight expenses as agreed upon,” the agency claims. “They didn’t help him in his return flight due to the virus pandemic and league suspension, and didn’t help other players as well while ignoring all communication.” (Twitter links)
- Olympiacos coach Giorgos Bartzokas tells Aris Barkas of EuroHoops that 7-footer Aleksej Pokusevski will likely enter the NBA draft. He’s projected as the 25th pick in the latest ESPN mock draft.
Silver Remains “Optimistic” That Season Can Be Saved
During an interview tonight with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver expressed hope that the current season can be completed in some form, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. While he admitted it’s way too early to guess when that may happen or what it might look like, Silver isn’t ready to talk about a cancellation.
“I’m optimistic by nature,” he said. “I want to believe we can salvage some form of the season.”
The commissioner said he discusses the situation every day with medical experts and Michele Roberts, executive director of the players union. He has also conducted conference calls with the owners to brainstorm possible solutions. Scenarios that have been discussed include resuming the season under normal conditions, playing the games with no fans in the arenas, or a one-time charity event involving players who have tested negative for the coronavirus.
“A third option that we are looking at now … the impact on the national psyche of having no sports programming on television,” he said. “And one of the things we’ve been talking about are, are there conditions in which a group of players could compete — maybe it’s for a giant fundraiser or just the collective good of the people — where you take a subset of players and, is there a protocol where they can be tested and quarantined and isolated in some way, and they could compete against one another? Because people are stuck at home and I think they need a diversion. They need to be entertained.”
ESPN recently reported that mid- to late June is the earliest realistic date that games can begin, and Silver said the league will be ready “when public health officials give us the OK.” He also indicated it’s possible that the current hiatus could lead the NBA to make changes to its future schedule.
Silver admitted that the country’s view of the coronavirus has evolved quickly since the decision was made to suspend operations seven days ago after Rudy Gobert tested positive. The league has ordered testing for eight teams since then, and six other players have registered positive tests.
“It was a larger decision than just the NBA,” Silver said of the shutdown. “… I think it got a lot of people’s attention.”
He identified Gobert’s test as a turning point for the league, saying it was a “split second” decision to call off last Wednesday’s game between the Jazz and Thunder. A game later that night involving the Pelicans and Kings was also postponed because one of the officials had worked a Utah game earlier in the week.
New York Notes: Coronavirus, Knicks’ Future, Chandler, Nets
The Knicks aren’t among the eight teams that have been ordered by the NBA to undergo coronavirus testing, tweets Steve Popper of Newsday. Madison Square Garden released a statement today explaining the status of the team and the NHL’s Rangers.
“We have been following the recommendations of local and national health officials and continue to monitor our players closely,” the statement reads. “As of now, with our players remaining asymptomatic, none of them have been tested for COVID-19. We will remain in close contact with health officials and the NBA and NHL.” (Twitter link).
It was revealed yesterday that four members of the cross-town Nets tested positive for the coronavirus, with Kevin Durant the only one who has been identified. As of this morning, 1,339 people in New York City have tested positive for COVID-19, according to Malika Andrews of ESPN.
There’s more from New York City:
- Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic expects a lot of turnover on the Knicks‘ roster during the next three seasons, with RJ Barrett and Mitchell Robinson the only players likely to remain in New York the entire time. Vorkunov expects Dennis Smith Jr. to be traded during the offseason, possibly for a second-round pick, just to get rid of his contract. The draft lottery will be filled with point guards, so a prospect may be the long-term answer, rather than Frank Ntilikina. An extensive roster turnover could come by the summer of 2021 as the Knicks have four first-round picks over the next two drafts.
- In the wake of the Nets’ positive tests, Wilson Chandler tweeted that the manager of the building where he lives has asked him to keep away from common areas. “Building manager called me saying ‘Oh, I seen Nets players had the virus. We would like to know your status. And if you could possibly stay out of the lobby etc. We can’t afford to lose our staff,’” Chandler wrote. He adds that she didn’t ask specifically if he had been tested.
- In case you missed it earlier, the Nets are defending their decision to have the entire team tested for coronavirus, saying some players were showing symptoms and all the testing was done through a private facility.
Coronavirus Update: Thunder, Sixers, Nets, Testing
The Thunder announced that their players and staff have tested negative for the coronavirus, writes Maddie Lee of The Oklahoman. Oklahoma City was set to host Utah last Wednesday, but the game was postponed after Rudy Gobert‘s positive test.
OKC officials said they followed recommendations of infectious disease experts that all players and staff members should get tested. Jazz players were tested on the night of the game, with Donovan Mitchell also revealed to have contracted the virus, but the Thunder’s tests didn’t come until later.
“Recognizing the stress on the state of Oklahoma’s medical system, the Thunder did not use state resources and chose an alternative path for testing of its personnel,” the team explained today in a press release.
There’s more COVID-19 news from around the league:
- Sixers players underwent coronavirus tests Monday, multiple sources tell Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. A week ago, Philadelphia hosted the Pistons with Christian Wood, who became the third player to test positive for the virus over the weekend. Sixers players and staff have been in self-quarantine since Thursday while waiting for the tests, according to Pompey, who adds that some staff members still haven’t been tested.
- The Nets, who had four players test positive, issued a statement today stating that they had players and staff showing symptoms of the virus and obtained the tests from a private company, tweets Malika Andrews of ESPN. “As we learned NBA players on other teams had tested positive for COVID-19, we noticed that several of our players and staff had symptoms,” the statement reads. “Based on this information, and the judgment that all of our players are subject to high exposure due to the close physical nature of basketball, the communal nature of teams and the possibility of an accelerated spread from team to team, our medical experts advised that our players get tested. We sourced the tests through a private company and paid for them ourselves because we did not want to impact access to CDC’s public resources.”
- The NBA has come under criticism with so many of its players receiving tests that aren’t easily available to the public, so league spokesman Mike Bass offered an explanation to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN (Twitter link). “Public health authorities and team doctors have been concerned that, given NBA players’ direct contact with each other and close interactions with the general public, in addition to their frequent travel, they could accelerate the spread of the virus,” Bass said. “… Hopefully, by these players choosing to make their test results public, they have drawn attention to critical need for young people to follow CDC recommendations in order to protect others, particularly those with underlying health conditions and the elderly.”
- The Mavericks (Twitter link) and Hawks (Twitter link) both closed their practice facilities to players this week. Players are being told to stay home and engage in social distancing.
Pacific Notes: Lakers, Kings, Mulder, Suns
With the news coming out about four Nets players testing positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday, the Lakers decided to get tested on Wednesday morning, writes Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times.
According to the L.A. Times, the tests were not mandatory for the players and none of the Lakers’ coaches were tested. The players who were tested are hoping to get results by Friday.
The Lakers played the Nets last Tuesday at the Staples Center, which was the last game for both teams. Laker players reportedly just started a two-week quarantine.
Here’s more news out of the Pacific:
- Michael Grange of Sportsnet details the journey that Canadian player and Warriors guard Mychal Mulder has taken from Windsor, Ontario, to the NBA. If not for the NBA’s postponement, the Warriors were scheduled to play in Toronto and nearby Detroit this week. Earlier this month, the Warriors signed Mulder to a multi-year deal.
- The Kings announced on Tuesday that all basketball activities at the team’s practice facility have been suspended. In a statement released by the team, they also said that no players have experienced symptoms of the coronavirus.
- Gina Mizell of The Athletic looks at five questions regarding the Suns that may or may not get answered, depending on whether the NBA returns to play. Phoenix has 26 wins under head coach Monty Williams and appeared to be finding its identity out west.
International Notes: China, Russia, Poland, Japan
Earlier this week, a report indicated that Chinese Basketball Association teams collectively decided that foreign players who are under contract in the CBA and refuse to return to China will be banned from the league for three years.
With that being said, it seems as if several foreign players are heeding this warning and heading back, per Emiliano Carchia of Sportando.
Some of the notable returning players are Jared Cunningham, Donatas Motiejunas, MarShon Brooks, Ty Lawson, and Jeremy Lin. Those players and others will quarantine for 14 days and get tested for COVID-19 upon returning to China.
The CBA’s season is set to resume play on April 15 with games reportedly taking place in Qingdao and Dongguan.
Here’s more on the international circuit:
- The VTB League in Russia announced on Tuesday that its season will be suspended until April 10 to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In a statement, the league adds that if the restrictions are lifted after April 10, it will be ready to play the rest of its regular-season schedule and playoffs.
- The Polish League (PLK) announced on Wednesday that the rest of its season will be canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak. Despite the cancellation, the PLK went ahead and crowned first-place Stelmet Enea BC Zielona Gora as league champions.
- Czech Kooperativa NBL decided to cancel its season on Wednesday. However, unlike the PLK, it has not named a champion or decided the teams that will be relegated or promoted.
- After resuming following a coronavirus-related hiatus, Japan’s B League has been suspended again through at least April 4 due to concerns from players and coaches, as Emiliano Carchia of Sportando details.
- The British Basketball League (BBL) announced on Tuesday that it will join other basketball leagues and postpone its season to combat COVID-19.