The recent spike in positive coronavirus tests in Florida has a growing number of NBA players and executives voicing concerns about the resumption of play set for Orlando next month.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had a “tense” call with high-ranking team executives to discuss the state’s growing number of cases, ESPN reported Sunday. Florida set a single-day record of 4,671 cases Saturday and has seen an uptick in positive tests.
A league spokesman told ESPN that the league is “closely monitoring the data in Florida and Orange County, where play is set to resume, and will continue to work collaboratively with the National Basketball Players Association, public health officials and medical experts regarding our plans.”
The NBA, which plans on having a 22-team format upon return, has given its players an option to voluntarily sit out if an individual is uncomfortable playing during the pandemic. Appearing on ESPN last week, Silver said players would not be in breach of contract for doing so.
“I can only say, it may not be for everyone. It will entail enormous sacrifice on behalf of those players and for everyone involved, the coaches, the referees,” Silver said. “Listen, it’s not an ideal situation. We’re trying to find a way to our own normal in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of essentially a recession or worse with 40 million unemployed.”
Most teams are expected to report to Walt Disney World between July 7 and July 9, though the Toronto Raptors will reportedly arrive earlier. ESPN reported a number of team executives and officials are “hopeful” the coronavirus cases in Florida will decline by then.
This past week, sports teams residing in Florida had to halt training due to positive tests. The Tampa Bay Lightning closed their facility after three players tested positive, while MLB announced it would temporarily close their spring training facilities in Florida and Arizona. The Philadelphia Phillies revealed eight members of the organization — five players and three staffers — tested positive for COVID-19 at their spring training site in Clearwater, Florida.
Since play halted in mid-March, a series of high-profile NBA players have tested positive, including Utah’s Donovan Mitchell and Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant.
Michelle Roberts, the executive director for the players’ union, told ESPN she wasn’t “surprised, given the state’s approach to reopening” about the spike of coronavirus cases.
“We are obviously clearly monitoring the situation,” Roberts said. “While we take some solace in knowing our players will not travel commercially to get to Orlando, that access to the campus is severely limited and, of course, all of the other health and safety protocols in place, the numbers will keep our attention. If necessary to add further restrictions respecting those third parties having access to the campus, we will seek to implement them.”
As the NBA has mapped out its plan, some players have expressed doubts about playing amid the pandemic. Washington’s John Wall, who is out while recovering from a torn Achilles, said even if he was healthy, he wouldn’t go to Orlando as he didn’t feel it was “safe.”
Some players, including Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving and the Lakers’ Avery Bradley, have questioned whether it’s appropriate to play basketball in light of the social justice movement that has happened because of George Floyd’s death.
Indiana Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon, who serves on the player’s union executive committee, said earlier this month that he has heard from a few players who are “super interested” in sitting out for various reasons.
“At the end of the day, I was actually talking to (union president) Chris Paul the other day and he said, ‘Man, this is an individual decision that every man has to make for himself,’” Brogdon said on the “J.J. Reddick Podcast.”
“I think that’s exactly what it is. It depends on your perspective.”
• Matthew Paras can be reached at mparas@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.