The NBA released a 139-page memo to its 30 teams outlining the COVID-19 regulations for the 2020-21 season, listing important rules to follow and explaining the procedure to follow when someone tests positive for the virus, Shams Charania and Sam Amick write for The Athletic.
The league acknowledged it will receive positive tests among its players this season, something that didn’t happen in the controlled Orlando campus last fall.
“It is likely that some staff, players, and other participants in the 2020/21 season nonetheless will test positive or contract COVID-19, particularly as the virus remains prevalent in particular team markets and surrounding communities,” the memo read, according to The Athletic. “The occurrence of independent cases (i.e., cases not spread among players or team staff) or a small or otherwise expected number of COVID-19 cases will not require a decision to suspend or cancel the 2020/21 season.”
The memo described the procedure for a positive test in length, specifying that the individual would miss a minimum of 12 days. It also outlawed miscellaneous activities for team traveling parties, including using hotel amenities such as spas or gift shops.
Here are some other odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- The Celtics and Jazz would’ve benefited from declining to give Jayson Tatum and Donovan Mitchell fifth-year player options, John Hollinger of The Athletic writes. Hollinger believes the clubs had leverage to push for straight five-year deals with no options, given that they were willing to include favorable Rose Rule language and 15% trade kickers.
- NBA G League writer Adam Johnson provided further clarity (via Twitter) on the G League’s potential bubble idea this season, adding that the idea of a January campus in Atlanta (similar to Orlando) is being discussed. A minimum of 12 games would be played, with daily testing and quarantine periods required for each of the participants. Teams would likely have a $500K entry fee in the proposed idea, with the league hopeful of adding more games over time, Johnson tweets.
I don’t have the benefit of the whole article because of the paywall, but suggesting that teams shouldn’t offer players an option year because they might leave hardly seems like some genius revelation. Obviously the team gets something in return, that’s part of the negotiation. I don’t know, could you offer more money and make it 5 years locked in? Not sure where the flexibility lies if it’s already a max contract.
They are max deals, so more money isn’t really on the table. They give it because the kids are expecting it now and feel hurt if they don’t get it. It’s really a lot like dealing with spoiled children who want more extravagant gifts to compete with their friends, and tell you that you don’t love them if you don’t acquiesce to their demands, or they won’t love you.
And so it happens because teams learn they want their stars to be happy, and the stars learn they have more earning power by using these options and feel more power to pursue things they want, while Hollingsworth mopes about what a bad example those teams are setting letting the kids rule the day.
*Hollinger, don’t know why the autocorrect put that in.