We are less than a month away from the reboot of the NBA season at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando. Here are some news and notes from around the league.
Bucks, Kings Close Facilities
On Sunday, the Milwaukee Bucks and Sacramento Kings became the latest teams to close down their practice facilities once they were given the results of their coronavirus tests held on Friday. The number of positive tests was not released, but according to reports, both teams will not reopen camp prior to heading south to Orlando on Thursday.
The Bucks and Kings join a handful of league teams to shut down their practice facility over positive coronavirus cases. Four league teams, including the Denver Nuggets, LA Clippers, Miami Heat, and Brooklyn Nets have also shuttered camp.
Milwaukee enters the season reboot with the league’s best record at 53-12. Additionally, the Bucks have the second-best odds (+280) to win the championship, behind only the Los Angeles Lakers (+250).
Jersey Message Plan A ‘Bad Miss’
On Friday, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association agreed to a list of suggested messages the players could display on their uniforms. Mike Scott, a forward on the Philadelphia 76ers, said the list was a “bad miss” for the NBA.
Expounding on his point, Scott said the NBA did not give the players a chance to voice their own opinions on the current social injustice going on in the United States. Instead, the NBA provided players with a list of just under 30 phrases to choose from.
Scott’s teammate, Josh Richardson, continued off of Scott’s opinion by adding the list could have left off causes that were important to players, and thus, the list felt limited. Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown also commented that he felt the list was limited and that there were other sayings that had a deeper impact.
NBA teams are scheduled to arrive at Walt Disney World Resort this week. Teams will have three weeks of practice and three scrimmages before play resumes on July 30.
Pelicans’ Ingram Has Doubts About Reboot
New Orleans Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram believes that the NBA’s experiment with the season reboot inside the Orlando bubble does not guarantee the season ending as planned. The first-time All-Star’s concerns stem from the fact that positive coronavirus tests are flaring up more and more inside the NBA.
Since June 23, there have been 25 positive tests amongst league players. In addition, seven of the 22 teams making the trip to Orlando have had to shut down training camp early due to the number of positive tests.
Ideally, once players are inside the bubble, the number of cases will go down. However, there will still be league employees that will be going in and out of the Disney campus that happens to be located in one of the current coronavirus hotspots.
The concern is that one positive test could sideline an entire team for an extended period of time.
