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Tim bontempsESPN
Before the NBA season began last month, Commissioner Adam Silver was asked in a conference call with reporters what it would take for the league to close again, as it did in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. in progress.
“I think we are prepared for isolated cases,” Silver said. “In fact, based on what we’ve seen in the preseason, based on seeing other leagues operating out of the bubble, it sadly seems inevitable. But we are prepared for all contingencies.”
Less than three weeks later, the NBA’s readiness is put to the test.
The Philadelphia 76ers lost to the visiting Denver Nuggets on Saturday with just seven healthy players available in the wake of Seth Curry’s positive test Thursday night, which ultimately resulted in four of his teammates: Tobias Harris, Matisse Thybulle. , Shake Milton and Vincent Poirier. – be held for contact tracing as part of league health and safety protocols.
Philadelphia’s available players kept things closed for the half. Ultimately, however, relying on rookies during heavy minutes – Tyrese Maxey, Isaiah Joe, and Dakota Mathias played over 40 years – turned out to be too much to overcome. However, the problem now for the Sixers is how many times they will have to play this way.
“I’m looking at our stat sheet and we have [three guys] over 40 [minutes], and it couldn’t be helped, “Sixers coach Doc Rivers said.” Now we play again in two days, and then we play again. So that’s my concern with this. We have to be very careful how we navigate in the coming week. “
Philadelphia is free on Sunday and then visits the Atlanta Hawks on Monday, followed by a home game with the Miami Heat on Tuesday and Thursday. While the NBA has established a specific route back to the game for players who test positive, the rules that apply to players who are identified as close contacts are less clear, and players who are considered to be close contact they lose different lengths. of time.
The Houston Rockets had their first game of the season postponed due to the majority of their team being unavailable between a combination of positive tests and contact tracing. However, they played their next game with multiple players still out while they completed the league’s quarantine process. No other games have been postponed, even if it meant Philadelphia playing a skeletal roster. And the Sixers aren’t the only team facing a growing shortage of bodies.
The Boston Celtics have seven players in the protocols as of Saturday night, before their home game against the Heat on Sunday. The Washington Wizards have played three games in the past week, against the Brooklyn Nets, the 76ers and the Celtics, against teams that have multiple players out due to league protocols.
“We do everything the league gives us, all the memos and protocols. We do our best,” Wizards coach Scott Brooks said before Friday night’s game against Boston. “We’re going to keep doing that. Everyone has been negative, and that’s good.”
After going through warm-ups, Washington star guard Bradley Beal was pulled from the lineup because close contact with Jayson Tatum was considered Friday night. The two friends who share a coach protected each other during important parts of the game and then had a conversation on the court.
Having Beal removed minutes before a game is not the only close decision for the NBA in recent days. Curry sat on the bench in Philadelphia during the first quarter of Thursday’s loss at Brooklyn before officially testing positive and leaving the arena. Memphis Grizzlies center Jonas Valanciunas played in the first half and was later pulled from his game against the Nets on Friday night at halftime due to protocols, although coach Taylor Jenkins later said he had not given. positive.
“The numbers are increasing,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Saturday night. “That is reality. We are committed to moving forward with our industry and we are doing so with the best science and adherence to protocols.
“But ultimately, we are not in control.”
In these first three weeks of the season, the league is learning it the hard way. A team official asked before the season, half-jokingly, if they would end up going on trips and dropping the players in city after city as they went. In these first three weeks, two teams, the Chicago Bulls and Dallas Mavericks, have had to outrun players and, in another case, LA Clippers staff had to drive home from Salt Lake City. The Toronto Raptors, who play in Tampa, Fla. This season, they reversed course from having fans present at this week’s games due to spikes from the virus.
These are all things that, as Silver alluded to, both Major League Baseball and the NFL had to grapple with trying to carry out their seasons during the summer and fall, respectively. The NBA, however, is trying to accomplish this with far fewer players, and with COVID-19 sweeping the earth worse than ever, with more than 4,000 people dying from the disease on Thursday alone.
“I think this is something we’ll see throughout the year,” Suns coach Monty Williams said Saturday when asked about the situation in Philadelphia.
“I’m sure the league is prepared for what could be a stoppage at some point, if it gets too bad.”
During that preseason press conference, Silver was asked specifically what it would take to stop the season as he did in March.
“There are no firm figures on this,” Silver said. “The view is that I believe that if we encountered a situation where our protocols were not working, which means that not only did we have some COVID cases, but we witnessed the spread between computers or even possibly to another computer, that would would cause the season to be suspended.
“The decision tree that we will see in terms of suspending the season will only be health and safety. If at any point we no longer believe that he is responsible for playing, we will stop the season.”
The NBA saw how successful its experiment with a bubble was last summer, but Silver ruled out making one for an entire season, or even a large swath of one, due to the mental and emotional toll it took on those who were there. Instead, the NBA is moving forward and playing the season in local markets, to allow those in the league to be with their families and live as normally as possible amid the pandemic.
While Silver has made it clear that health and safety have been at the forefront of the league’s decision-making process, he acknowledged the economic realities of the situation and said that “tens of thousands” of jobs depend on the league continuing. operating.
However, it hasn’t been long to see how difficult it will be for the NBA to walk that narrow path.
“I think the reality is that we know this is very widespread right now,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “And we’re doing everything we can, like I said before, to avoid it and it’s still going to find its way into the league, through travel, so we all take some level of risk. And I think we accept that and at the same time We trust that those responsible have health and safety as their number one priority and if it becomes too much, it will be up to someone else who is an expert at it. “
