Resumption of National Basketball Association (NBA) games is still blurry, but few teams already started opening their training facilities for the workouts of the players as. Since some states already eased lockdown restrictions, NBA teams were ordered to coordinate with their respective local officials and health authorities to ensure that proper protocols are followed to protect the players and personnel.
The NBA updated its rules. There are now disinfection procedures, social distancing requirements, no more scrimmages, and not more than four players can be together in a training facility at any given time.
Players (one at each basket) will have at least a two-hour session with a trainer or a developmental coach, and they will wear gloves and facemasks. This will definitely look weird, but we are on a different kind of situation now.
On May 9, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Portland were the first NBA teams to open for the players’ voluntary workouts.
It was reported that Toronto, Denver, Miami, and Sacramento, on the other hand, opened their facilities on May 11, but most of their players are still under quarantine in the respective homes located in different parts of the country. The NBA teams are encouraging their ballers to return and immediately get back in shape.
With the distinction of having been the first team to have players infected with coronavirus disease 2019, Utah Jazz is not opening yet is practice facility. Jazz executive vice president for basketball operations Jack Lindsey said the team wants to make sure they meet all the NBA and health requirements. Utah will also formulate its own set of rules.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, for his part, did not consider practice facilities as essential businesses thus, San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets will not be opening theirs yet.
Mavericks team owner Mark Cuban said: “We listen to health experts, not politicians. When the NBA provides us with confirmation that it’s safe for our guys to move forward, we will move forward.”
“The problem obviously is that we can’t test people and we can’t assure anybody’s safety, whether they are basketball players or anybody else,” he added.
Los Angeles (LA) City mayor Eric Garcetti, meanwhile, has his stay-at-home order still in effect until May 15, at least. The two LA teams, Lakers and Clippers, cannot yet see their players in their respective facilities.
The NBA is taking small steps. It is slowly getting back. It’s strange, but this is the new reality./PN
