Amid pandemic, NBA gives teams health protocols for season

NBA players who test positive for coronavirus this season may have to miss nearly two weeks in some instances before being allowed to return to court, league told its teams Saturday.

That revelation was one of many in a 63,000-word document, a copy of which was obtained by Associated Press, that explained some of heath and safety protocols for looming season. Preseason games begin Dec. 11 and regular-season contests start Dec. 22.

document still needs to be ratified by league and National Basketball Players Association, but at least provides some sort of blueprint for start of training camps in coming days. All players who will be part of training camp need to begin a testing program by Monday — many were expected to start it Saturday — and teams can begin holding mandated group workouts sometime between Dec. 4 and Dec. 6.

Players, coaches and or key staff are expected to be tested daily in most cases.

league, in a separate memo, also told teams that even with detailed prevention and mitigation strategies “it is likely that some staff, players and or participants in 2020-21 season neless will contract COVID-19.” league urged teams to have plans ready to assist visiting team personnel or referees who happen to test positive away from ir home cities, such as directing m toward isolation accommodations if necessary and to assist with that person’s care while recovering.

“ NBA wouldn’t have put this plan toger and we wouldn’t have agreed to it if it wasn’t safe,” Utah guard Dovan Mitchell said Friday, before protocols were given to teams. “We did a great job with bubble and we’ll do what we feel is safe, PA and NBA.”

Mitchell — who tested positive for virus shortly after league suspended last season on March 11, after Jazz teammate Rudy Gobert was first NBA player kwn to have contracted COVID-19 — also said that he expects players to take virus very seriously, especially since a positive test almost certainly would sideline someone for several games.

“This isn’t football where you play once a week,” Mitchell said. “We’re playing twice, three, maybe four times a week, so you’ve got to be careful, you’ve got to be cautious.”

re are two methods by which a player can return to play after a positive coronavirus test: one is a test-based resolution, in which an infected individual has at least two consecutive negative PCR test results. or is a time-based resolution, where a player would have to isolate, rest and avoid workouts for at least 10 days and n spend at least two more days training in isolation. He would also have to undergo cardiac screening before being cleared to return.

league is still working with union on specific protocols for life on road, saying it wants to find ways to “promote more controlled environments and reduce nessential interactions.” Teams will be urged to work with hotel vendors on best practices, such as face-mask us and physical distancing, especially from people who are t part of a team’s travel party — which will be capped at 45 people, including players, coaches and staff.

re is a possibility that league will have teams travel with someone whose specific task is to handle testing on road. Those people — it may be one, it may be two — would t count toward 45-person travel party total.

players or coaches tested positive for coronavirus after gaining entry to NBA’s restart bubble that housed more than three months of practices and games at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, from early July through mid-October.

But with bubble, risk of exposure and positive tests is obviously much higher. Virus figures around world have been soaring in recent weeks, including in many U.S. cities; number of new COVID-19 cases reported in U.S. reached 205,557 on Friday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

That marked first time daily positive test-reported figure topped 200,000 mark. Some NBA teams have already said that y intend to open season without fans in stands, defending champion Los Angeles Lakers among m.

Im credits: AP