If the latest reports are to be believed, it certainly appears that the NBA is inching ever-so-slowly toward a return to action. There’s been plenty of discussion in recent weeks about how this might work logistically, given the safety protocols that would have to be implemented as the global COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread.
Last week, the league announced that teams residing in markets that have loosened their social distancing restrictions could resume skeleton-crew workouts at their practice facilities, but that was met with a tepid response, in no small part because so many players have traveled out of market to be with their families during the crisis and are reluctant to return until there is a more definitive plan to resume play.
The idea of a so-called “bubble” location has taken hold, with Walt Disney World in Orlando emerging as the clear front-runner to host the games, which various reports have indicated could include an abbreviated 70-game finish to the regular season, followed by the playoffs.
In order for that to happen, players and team personnel would potentially have to undergo 14-day quarantines, and there is reportedly some consensus among them that they’d prefer to simply travel straight to the bubble location rather than return to their home cities and have to quarantine twice. Via Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
Teams want to avoid having to quarantine significant portions of their rosters twice — once upon returning to more restrictive markets, and again, at the bubble site.
In anticipation of the league’s expectation of restarting the season, the NBA has told those teams that it plans to work with them on solutions that possibly include redirecting some teams directly to campus/bubble sites instead of team facilities to hold training camps, sources said.
For example, here’s what Raptors All-Star guard Kyle Lowry wants to avoid: He has been working out in Philadelphia and could have to return to Toronto and quarantine for two weeks — without a guarantee that Canadian regulations would let him use the team’s facility during that period of time. Conditioning gains he had made could be dulled — just as Lowry and others are looking to accelerate preparation.
An additional report on Friday indicated that the travel squad for each NBA team would be reduced to a maximum of 35 people in all, whereas teams regularly travel with more than 50 people. Regardless, an NBA return is starting to look more promising as the league continues to hammer out all of the details on what will be mammoth undertaking to safely resume play.
(ESPN)
Tonight on the WWE Friday Night Smackdown open discussion thread:
The Queen certainly knows how make a grand entrance, and she knows how to stir the pot even better.
Charlotte Flair returned to SmackDown last week with a message for Bayley and, perhaps more importantly, Bayley’s good friend Sasha Banks. Before the NXT Women’s Champion was done, she left The Boss contemplating her future and set a Champion vs. Champion Match against the SmackDown Women’s Champion.
Will The Queen seize the opportunity to assert her dominance? Or can Bayley & Sasha affirm their role model status? (via WWE.com)
Not getting enough Charlotte Flair on your WWE shows? Here she is again, this time in a champion versus champion match with Bayley. The card also includes two Intercontinental Championship Tournament matches — AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus — as well as Otis and Mandy Rose vs. Dolph Ziggler and Sonya Deville.
As always, give a thumbs up to any comments from tonight’s open thread you enjoy and we’ll include 10 of the best in tomorrow’s Best and Worst of Friday Night Smackdown on Fox report. Make sure to flip your comments to “newest” in the drop down menu under “discussion,” and enjoy the show!
Patrick Ewing, the National Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee and the head coach of the Georgetown Hoyas’ men’s basketball team, announced on Friday evening that he has tested positive for COVID-19. Ewing announced the news in a statement that was released by Georgetown, and while he is the only member of the Hoyas’ program to receive a positive test, he is currently being monitored and isolated at a local medical facility.
I want to share that I have tested positive for COVID-19. This virus is serious and should not be taken lightly. I want to encourage everyone to stay safe and take care of yourselves and your loved ones. pic.twitter.com/a2fMuhIZyG
— Patrick Ewing (@CoachEwing33) May 22, 2020
According to the statement, Ewing’s intention was to stress that anyone can contract the virus, which has caused much of society to come to a halt. While he is optimistic about his ability to recover, Ewing made it a point to say that “the virus is serious and should not be taken lightly.”
Ewing had a decorated career as a player with the Hoyas, which he parlayed into going No. 1 overall in the 1985 NBA Draft. He is perhaps the greatest player in the history of the New York Knicks, where he spent the first 15 years of his playing career before year-long pit stops with the Seattle SuperSonics and Orlando Magic prior to retirement. He then transitioned to a coaching role, serving on a handful of NBA benches before getting the call to return to his alma mater.
Several NBA players have publicly announced positive tests for COVID-19, and all of them, to the best of our knowledge, have made full recoveries. Here’s to hoping that Ewing joins those ranks as soon as possible.
