The NBA is seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases in recent days and they have started to work to get things under control before they need to suspend the season. That would be bad for everybody, which is why the league took extra measures to keep everybody healthy.
Now players can’t shake hands on the court; they will have to limit their contact to fist or elbow bumps. They will need to get to the arenas no more than three hours before a game and always maintain 6 feet of distance as much as possible.
The NBA and the NBPA agreed to these measures to try to overturn this situation. The last thing that people want now is to see the league suspended again, just like last March, after Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. We all know what came after that and that’s not a desirable situation.
NBA insider reveals how the league could make another bubble
All these measures have been adopted to prevent the suspension of the league and, as we all know, the implementation of a new bubble, as they did in Orlando last season, where Los Angeles Lakers won their 17th title after beating Miami Heat. The league does not want that, but that option isn’t completely off the table now.
Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes recently talked about all the things happening in the association and what could prompt the league to suspend the current season and bring it back in a bubble to play out the remainder of the campaign.
“I am currently having a couple of text conversations with a few prominent NBA players. And both of them are sharing their frustration with how soon they were told to get back to work, which was December 22. Somebody said, ‘Get the money’ is what they told us. But everybody’s scared to write what we should have did, how firm we should have held.”
“Another star player texted me and said, ‘We may have to go back to a Bubble.’”
Of course, this would be the last option for the league but seeing how some teams are playing games without several players and the suspension of other encounters, that might have created the perception that a bubble could be nearing.
The league has the last say on this matter but if things don’t get better, it’ll be hard for them to continue playing this way if every day more and more players will be testing positive for the COVID-19.
