As NBA teams prepare for their big migration to Orlando for the upcoming NBA restart, not all participating players will travel with their team to the bubble. Whether they have extenuating circumstances or have recently tested positive for COVID-19, they will have to travel separately, raising some important questions: How should those players travel to Orlando, and how will they safely insert themselves into the bubble?
The NBA has answered those questions in a memo to the teams ESPN has obtained. Players will have several options to travel, but depending on the mode they use, they will be informed what happens when they arrive.
According to ESPN, players traveling separately to Orlando will have to pay for their own travel arrangements. They have three options: travel by car, fly commercial or rent a flight. If a player drives or flies on a private charter, they must have two consecutive negative tests before they can reside in the bubble. If they fly commercials, they need three consecutive negative tests upon arrival.
NBA players who do not travel with their teams to Orlando must pay their own transportation. (Photo by Harry Langer / DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
Players who have tested positive for the coronavirus must quarantine and return two negative tests before they can travel to Orlando and undergo the additional tests that the NBA requires for players traveling separately.
The NBA is obviously taking the sanctity of its bubble very seriously. A player cannot travel with his team to Orlando if he missed a scheduled coronavirus test two days before the departure date. And if a player hasn’t been evaluated regularly for the past few weeks, he must test negative six times in a row before he is allowed to enter the bubble, regardless of how he traveled there.
There has already been an outbreak of COVID-19 in the Orlando bubble, which is located at the Walt Disney World Resort. Since Major League Soccer arrived last week to prepare for its MLS Comeback Tournament, six FC Dallas members have tested positive for the coronavirus. The entire team is now quarantined, and their July 9 game against the Vancouver Whitecaps has been postponed.
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