A couple of key NBA assistants will not be with their teams when play resumes this month at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida due to COVID-19 related health issues.
Both Los Angeles Lakers assistant Lionel Hollins and New Orleans Pelicans assistant Jeff Bzdelik have chosen not to restart the league as both are at increased risk of contracting the coronavirus.
Lionel Hollins does not join the Lakers
Hollins, 66, was “flagged” due to an underlying health problem, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. It’s also above the age threshold of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, automatically putting you at greater risk.
Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Lionel Hollins was “flagged in red” as a health problem and will not join the team in Orlando for the NBA restart, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
– Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 3, 2020
Hollins, according to Haynes, was disappointed that he did not attend, but he knows it is the right decision.
The move, according to the report, was not due to his age.
Hollins is in his first season on the bench with the Lakers, although he has been training in the league since 1988. He served as an assistant to the Phoenix Suns, Vancouver Grizzlies and Memphis Grizzlies, and was also briefly the Grizzlies’ head coach. and Brooklyn Nets.
“There are several members of our staff who we will not be able to incorporate into the bubble that, frankly, we need in the bubble,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said Thursday on ESPN. “But the environment just doesn’t allow us to do that, and that’s just part of pandemic life and the situation we are in.”
Jeff Bzdelik does not join Pelicans
Bzdelik’s agent confirmed to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Friday that he will not join New Orleans in Orlando. The decision was reportedly made after Bzdelik consulted with the team’s doctors.
The 67-year-old man is also above the CDC age threshold for increased risk.
Bzdelik is in his first season with the Pelicans, and has also been training in the league since 1988. He served as an assistant to the Washington Bullets, Miami Heat, Memphis Grizzlies and Houston Rockets, and had a three-year season leading the Denver Nuggets from 2002-05.
A decision has not yet been made on Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry.
Gentry is one of three league coaches over the age of 65, along with San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, 71, and Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni, 69.
“My plan right now is to be in Orlando, and I’m looking forward to it,” Gentry said Monday on ESPN. “I think as the season went on hiatus we were playing really good basketball, and I hope we can get back to that. That’s why I’m not treating it like a training ground, I’m treating it like picking up where we left off when the season stopped. “
Both Bzdelik and Hollins are expected to continue to assist their respective teams during the reboot remotely.
There were more than 2.8 million confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States as of Friday afternoon, according to The New York Times, with nearly 130,000 deaths attributed to it. The country recorded more than 50,500 new confirmed cases Thursday alone, a record for a single day.
Cases are also emerging in Florida. The state had more than 178,000 confirmed cases as of Friday afternoon, and registered more than 10,000 new cases Thursday alone, a one-day record. Orange County, where Disney World is, had more than 12,000 cases.
The season is slated to resume play on July 30.
