As NBA works to finalize details of restart plan, issues remain for Heat and rest of league
As details continue to trickle out about the impending resumption of the 2019-20 NBA season amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the league’s comeback plan is receiving pushback from a faction of players.
The NBA’s restart plan calls for 22 teams to finish their seasons in the coming months at a fanless quarantine-type environment just outside of Orlando at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. Teams will begin to arrive at Disney on July 7 and training camps in the Central Florida bubble will run from July 9-29 and will include three scrimmages per team, with the season restarting on July 30 and ending in October.
“I think it’s being really partially over reported in terms of it hanging in the balance or anything like that,” a longtime NBA agent said to the Miami Herald, downplaying the notion that the league’s summer return is in jeopardy. “It’s going to happen. They already agreed to that. I think what they’re trying to figure out is how do they make it happen involving the highest amount of people and how do they make it seem collaborative.”
But here’s one of the big issues players have with the current plan: Family and guests of teams will have to wait until Aug. 30 to enter the bubble, when there is enough room for them after teams eliminated from the playoffs have left. That means players, coaches and staff will have to be without family for nearly two months.
Participants will also have to adhere to strict health and safety protocols while in the Disney bubble, including a reported rule that would force players who exit the bubble to quarantine for at least 10 days upon reentry. The long list of health protocols are still being worked on, as ESPN reported Monday that “a 125-page health and safety manual detailing the step-by-step protocols” is expected to be sent to teams early this week.
Among the other issues players have with the NBA’s return-to-play plan is the belief that games will distract from the Black Lives Matter movement, along with the risk of contracting COVID-19 and the injury risk that comes with returning to an eight-game regular season and playoff action following a four-month hiatus.
According to ESPN, Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Iving was one of the leading voices in a Friday night call that included nearly 100 players to discuss the pros and cons of returning to play, and “Irving made an impassioned plea for players to make a stand and sit out the season’s resumption in Orlando.”
“It’s not a question of play or not play,” National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts said to ESPN, with the NBA season suspended since March 11. “It’s a question of, does playing again harm a movement that we absolutely, unequivocally embrace? And then whether our play can, in fact, highlight, encourage and enhance this movement.
“That’s what they’re talking about. They’re not fighting about it; they’re talking about it.”
The NBA will allow players to opt out of the bubble plan and they will not be penalized for staying home. But those players will not be paid for missed games.
There has not been significant pushback from the 17 players on the Miami Heat’s roster on returning to complete the season, according to league sources, with most players already indicating they want to play when games resume at Disney. But there are some on the roster who are waiting for details and health protocols surrounding the NBA’s plan to be finalized before they make a final decision.
In a Sunday interview with Local 10, Heat guard Goran Dragic said: “I want to compete, I want to play.” But Dragic said “the main concern is safety.”
Yahoo Sports reported that Heat veteran Andre Iguodala, who is the first vice president of the NBPA, was among those on Friday night’s call.
And Heat center Bam Adebayo, who is eligible for a contract extension this upcoming offseason, was one of the young stars on another call Friday with NBPA officials about the possibility of league-financed insurance policies to protect against career-threatening injuries in the bubble, according to ESPN.
And as expected, there are players who want family and friends to be allowed inside the NBA’s bubble sooner than Aug. 30, according to multiple league sources. Restrictions that players will have to live under in the quarantine bubble are also a concern.
Before the NBA’s 22-team comeback plan was even approved, Heat veteran and captain Udonis Haslem spoke to the Miami Herald last month about the mental toll the restrictive and isolated nature of the bubble could have on players.
“I just worry about the mental part of it,” Haslem said in May. “As an athlete and a competitor, you put me in a competitive setting, I’m going to compete. That’s just who I am. But I just worry about going deeper into quarantine as the world starts going into post-pandemic and we start to see things open up a little bit and people starting to take baby steps to getting back to a somewhat normal life. And you’re asking us to go deeper into the quarantine? That’s what’s going to be tough. That’s going to be hard to figure out.
“I’m the first to say let’s play. But I just hope it works out for everybody and we can find a common ground. But we’ve been quarantining just like everybody else, and you’re asking us to watch the world open up.”
As the NBA continues to work with the NBPA on certain aspects of the league’s return, voluntary individual workouts continue at team facilities. The Heat began allowing players to participate in voluntary individual workouts at the team’s AmericanAirlines Arena practice facility on May 13, and attendance from in-town players has been very strong, according to a league source.
Individual workouts had been limited to one player and one coach per basket, but the NBA began allowing two coaches to work out a player on Friday. And starting June 23, Erik Spoelstra and other head coaches will be allowed to be one of those supervising coaches.
The NBA plan also requires all players to return to their team’s market by June 22.
The Heat currently plans to travel to the Disney site by bus on July 9, at which point they will enter the league’s bubble. Miami typically does all travel — including for road games against the Orlando Magic — by plane.
With each of the 22 teams playing eight “seeding games” starting on July 30 that will be added to their current regular-season records to determine the final standings, the postseason is set to begin on Aug. 17, according to the NBA’s latest tentative timeline.
This story was originally published June 15, 2020 at 12:56 PM.
