The possibility of resuming and completing the 2019/20 NBA season in a “bubble” location is widely viewed as the most viable path to playing games this summer. In theory, bringing the necessary players, staffers, and officials to a single location where they can be quarantined and tested for COVID-19 would be far less risky than having teams traveling to and from their home cities for games.
[RELATED: Latest On NBA’s Discussions To Resume Season]
However, while the idea of making Walt Disney World or Las Vegas that bubble in which to resume the NBA season has gained momentum in some corners, NBPA executive director Michele Roberts tells ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne that the players’ union has some reservations.
As Roberts explains, via Shelburne, players would have to submit to some level of surveillance in order to enforce a quarantine for several weeks – or months – and to ensure the “bubble” is impenetrable. That idea is somewhat unsettling for Roberts and a number of players.
“Are we going to arm guards around the hotel?” Roberts said. “That sounds like incarceration to me.”
Of course, while the NBPA may have concerns about bubble enforcement being too “draconian,” as Shelburne writes, creating restrictions that are too lax could also be a problem. In that scenario, the league would risk having a player or staffer leave the bubble, contract the coronavirus, and put those inside the bubble at risk, potentially necessitating a shutdown.
The NBA continues to explore all potential options, so there’s no guarantee that the league will move forward with the bubble-location concept. If it does, there are concessions that could be made, such as allowing family members to join players in the bubble location. Still, Roberts tells Shelburne that regardless of what the NBA decides, the league and its players will have to prepare for some level of coronavirus-related risk.
“This is a world with the virus,” Roberts said. “And we have to figure out a way to work, play and live in a world with the virus. The questions have now evolved from, ‘Are we going to play again?’ to, ‘If we play, what are the risks going to look like?'”
As Roberts point out, even after the NBA makes a decision on what it feels is the safest possible path for resuming play, there may still be players who aren’t comfortable with those risks. She’s not sure yet how to address that issue.
“That is the million-dollar question,” Roberts told Shelburne. “I’ve got to confront that. It’s an issue employers everywhere are going to have to confront. Because I guarantee there’s going to be at least one player, if not many more than that, that are going to have genuine concerns about their safety. We have to figure out what the response is to that. It’s a tough one, and I don’t pretend that I have an answer to that one yet.
Season is over…
Where did she get the idea of armed guards???
Dude. Read it one more time for me. I know you’ll figure it out :). Especially with your common sense:).
The world has lost its damn mind
Gimme a break Michele, just adapt to the weirdness of these times and see that a closed off bubble with constant testing is prolly one of the safest place to be these days. Pretending it’s “incarceration” is laughable and just divisive language I’m tired of that stuff.
Agree 100%. Let them leave the bubble and if they test positive when trying to re enter then they’re out indefinitely
I wonder if Roberts is speaking individually or as a representative of players that complained. Because, there are players who want a maximum of safety (perhaps like McCollum or Thybulle who have spoken publicly in the media, via HR).
I would hate to see resumption fail because of a combination rebellion of players who want it looser and players who want it tighter. There has to be agreement in the middle.