The NBA, it seems safe to assume, will take every step possible to keep players and coaches who enter the upcoming bubble league safe and healthy. But the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and in the face of a worldwide pandemic, there is no guarantee that individuals who head to Orlando to compete for an NBA championship will be able to stay safe and healthy, because COVID-19 is not something that cares about whether or not basketball games are going on.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, this is causing some concern among a handful of players, who allegedly hopped on a conference call to talk about whether or not going to Orlando is a good idea considering everything that is going on right now.
Sources: As NBA and NBPA are finalizing terms on return-to-play plan today, there’s a faction of players discussing as a group whether restarting season in the Orlando bubble is a good idea. Several dozen players participated in a conference call in last 24 hours to discuss it.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 10, 2020
As a result, per Wojnarowski, both the league and its Players Association are expected to come to terms on an agreement in which players who are not comfortable with the bubble league do not have to attend. While they would not face any sort of discipline for this, their salaries would be impacted.
The NBA and NBPA are expected to agree on a provision that wouldn’t require players to restart the season, nor subject them to discipline for staying home, sources tell ESPN. The players would lose a portion of salary for those games missed. https://t.co/WkV5qqEmE5
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 10, 2020
This has always been the question hanging over top of every sports league’s return before there is a widespread COVID-19 vaccine. Making this especially timely is that Florida, the state where the bubble league is going to happen, has seen a rise in cases in recent days, although that could be contributed to the fact that the state has expanded testing recently. Regardless, this was always going to be a concern for some players, particularly those with the kinds of pre-existing conditions that can exacerbate the novel coronavirus’ symptoms, and coaches, especially older ones. As for which players voiced these concerns, that remains to be seen, but fortunately, it looks like there will be an option for them to stay home if they’re not 100 percent comfortable.