-
Tim BontempsESPN
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association announced Tuesday night an agreement for the eight teams that were not invited to restart the league in a bubble at the Walt Disney World Resort to have volunteer group trains begin at their facilities mids september.
The agreement requires players to work out “while living in a campus-like environment” and includes “comprehensive health and safety protocols” for all players, coaches and team members involved.
This is in line with the guidelines that NBPA Executive Director Michele Roberts imposed on ESPN last month, when asked what it would take to reach an agreement to give non-bubble teams some offseason workouts. have.
“As far as I know, I have not changed the position I have taken,” Roberts said. “That’s the position the players have taken, that we’ve spent all this time with what we thought was the safest way to play back, and we’ve agreed that we’ll figure it out, and all that’s short, by definition , an unsafe, or less secure way to go through that the players will not support.Period.I have never wavered.I do not yet.
“I’m not envious of the conversations that take place between those eight teams. I hear rumors like everyone else. But I’ve been consistent and I aim to stay consistent, because every time I have asked the players if they want to change our position, their answer has consistently been “no.” And so, look, there are some players who want to play, maybe. But each of them wants to be safe. “
Ever since the NBA reached an agreement with the NBPA to return to handball in June, it has been the fate of the eight teams that have resurfaced – the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks – has been a point of controversy. Those teams have pleaded several times for one way or another to get a chance to work with their players before the start of next season.
Now, after this agreement, they will get one. The teams will allow players to volunteer for workouts starting on Sept. 14, and continuing on Oct. 6, in a series of phases.
In the first phase, from 14 September to 20 September, there will be individual volunteer workouts at the teams’ facilities, along with the start of the daily COVID-19 tests for all participating players, coaches and staff . The second phase, which runs from September 21 to the end of the workouts on October 6, may include exercises, skill or conditioning sessions and tests, aligned with daily tests.
Teams will also create their own “campus-like environment” in their hometowns to mimic what the teams have done in Orlando, Florida. To participate, players and team staff must remain on campus.
Under the agreement, participation is voluntary and can only include players who are under contract with a team and up to five players who are not currently under contract with an NBA team, but who were part of the G League branch this past season.
.
