More on Coronavirus
John Hollinger: Follow up: Hearing that Pelicans' Thornwell signing is a COVID replacement, but for privacy reasons they can't name the player.
Former No. 2 overall pick Hasheem Thabeet has re-entered unrestricted free agency after a teammate in The Basketball Tournament tested positive for COVID-19 at the start of the month. Thabeet, 33, was set to compete with the “Playing for Jimmy V” team during the annual tournament, but event rules mandate that any team who receives a positive test be disqualified from competing in the bracket any further. Thabeet tested negative for the coronavirus, a person with knowledge of the situation said.
At first, Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum voted not to play as the NBA pushed for a season restart in Orlando, Florida. McCollum had concerns about how the players would be kept safe from the coronavirus pandemic. “At the time, based on what I had been given, I didn’t feel comfortable playing,” McCollum said Monday during a conference call with reporters.
As he learned more about the NBA’s restart plan and safety protocols, McCollum said he began to feel better about playing, and his opinion started to shift. He asked his family if they wanted him to play. Had they said no, he wouldn’t have chosen to go. “From the standpoint of understanding what I can accomplish while playing in front of all those fans, especially to help the movement,” McCollum said. “I feel like it was in my better interest personally to play.”
It took a lot of time and information to persuade McCollum to play, and it still wasn’t an easy decision. Much more than getting into the playoffs, he’s worried about his health and that of his teammates. “I don’t know how much interactive fun I’ll have from a safety standpoint,” McCollum said. “I think it’s best to stick to yourself if I’m being honest. Stay in my room, FaceTime, talk to my family, read some books, play some video games, drink some McCollum Heritage 91 and keep it moving. I don’t really plan on mingling too much, especially to start, because one false negative could be the end.”
The Nets head to Orlando on Tuesday and enter quarantine in Disney. Dinwiddie would be required by the NBA to have two negative tests before he could even travel. His hope is to be able to fly with the team to Florida, because traveling separately will complicate matters. “Protocol only calls for 7 days and negative tests not the 14 day standard,” Dinwiddie tweeted of the shorter one-week quarantine. “Yep, the plan would be to fly to Orlando after workout. For players that show up late, it might make it difficult to resume season at all due to more rigorous testing requirements.”
Dinwiddie is averaging career-highs of 20.6 points and 6.8 assists, and would be a huge loss should he be unable to play. More playmaking burden would fall on two-way player Chris Chiozza. “With Spencer, I hope he can play. I hope he feels better,” Chiozza said. “But if not, I’ll be ready to take on those extra minutes.”
Eric Walden: Jazz guard Emmanuel Mudiay recalled some of the craziness the night of March 11/morning of March 12 in OKC. Mentioned how "uneducated" players were then vs. now. Recalled being shocked when Donovan Mitchell tested positive. Said he figured NBA would shut down for 2-3 weeks.
"The (NBA) GMs I've spoken to, we all believe the safest place to be is in the bubble," Jones said. "Here in Arizona, you sees the cases skyrocketing. Across the U.S., the cases are spiking, and our players are a younger generation. Social generation. The more constraints you can put in place, the better. The structure of Orlando will be beneficial for us."
Eric Walden: Tony Bradley said it will be hard in the bubble being so close to where his family lives and not being able to see them. He also noted that with the COVID numbers in Florida as they are, he's been trying to convince his father, who's a pastor, to stay at home more.
Ira Winderman: Meyers Leonard on teammates and players around the NBA testing positive for COVID, "Obviously this virus is hard to control." Says when players get in a true bubble, he expects positives tests to be reduced.
Anthony Chiang: Meyers Leonard has said numerous times over the past few months that Udonis Haslem's essay for the The Players' Tribune inspired him. Leonard said it's one of the reasons he was so proactive with raising money during the pandemic.
Sam Amick: Source tells @TheAthletic the Kings have shut down their practice facility after receiving a positive coronavirus test within the team’s traveling party on Sunday. The facility is not expected to reopen before the team departs for Orlando on Wednesday.
James Ham: Confirming that the Sacramento Kings have shut down their practice facility after a positive test within their traveling party. No word yet on whether it was player, staff or coach. @sam_amick first with the news
The identity of the person to test positive and their role with the organization is not yet known. NBA teams competing in Orlando consist of a 35 member traveling party.
Marc Stein: Sacramento would be the seventh team of the 22 bound for Walt Disney World publicly known to take this measure at some point over the past two weeks since players were asked to be back in their home markets on June 22: Kings, Bucks, Heat, Clippers, Nuggets, Suns and Nets
David Morrow: It was just said on the broadcast that a player on @thetournament team Eberlein Drive tested positive for COVID-19, and the team is therefore dropping out of the tournament. Dusty Hannahs, JP Macura, Tim Quarterman, Kaiser Gates among notable names on the team.
Spencer Dinwiddie: Day 10 update: The sinus pressure headaches when I get up are starting to subside. But I was a lil too bullish on the bike 😅. Got dizzy and felt weak smh. But if I can get a negative test tomorrow then they’re gonna get me back on court Tuesday 🙏🏾 #AudienceOfOne
After receiving the results of a Friday round of testing for the coronavirus, the Milwaukee Bucks shut down the team's practice facility for workouts until the team departs for Orlando, Florida, this week, sources told ESPN. It was not immediately clear if there was more than one positive test, but the team plans to keep the facility closed for workouts until the team's traveling party departs for the league's restart in Orlando on Thursday, sources said.
Adrian Wojnarowski: The Milwaukee Bucks have shut down the team’s practice facility after receiving results of a Friday round of coronavirus testing, sources tell ESPN. The team isn’t expected to reopen facility for workouts prior to the organization's traveling party leaving for Orlando Thursday.
Matt Velazquez: League source confirms the @Adrian Wojnarowski report that the Bucks have closed their practice facility following Friday’s round of coronavirus testing. The Bucks are not expected to have any further sessions at their practice facility before Thursday when they leave for Orlando.
Maccabi Tel Aviv announced that Tyler Dorsey has been quarantined after a verified case of COVID-19 was discovered in his building. The Israeli League season resumed on June 21 and Maccabi has played four games so far in the Winner Stage Group, winning three of them and improving to a 22-3 overall record.
Turner's father, David, contracted the COVID-19 virus and was quarantined in a bedroom in the family home in Dallas for about 10 days. He's doing well now according to Myles, but the episode had an obvious impact on his feelings toward going back to basketball when the number of cases of infected people continues to rise. Turner moved back into his parents' house when he returned to Texas after the season was put on hold. His father hadn't been feeling well and was discovered to have the virus the second time he was tested. "I saw it firsthand and how it affected my family and I couldn't imagine how it's affected other families," Turner said Friday during a Zoom call with media members. "I definitely wasn't a big proponent of playing at first. I still have questions now, but most of the questions have been answered."
The league has implemented exhaustive testing procedures for its Disney campus in Orlando, and yet NBA Commissioner Adam Silver concedes it’s “not impermeable.” He even allowed that his concern is increasing, owing to the 10,000 cases Florida just saw in one day. “We’re talking about degrees of risk in all these things, and I think sometimes that gets lost,” said Dr. Lisa Miller, a professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health. “It’s not like there’s a black-and-white line between you’re either over 65 and you’re at risk or you’re under 65 and you’re not.”
“If you’re in the bubble and you know you have seven percent of people who are PCR positive, that seems concerning,” Miller said. “If it’s pre-bubble, and you’ve allowed the appropriate amount of time for isolation of those people then I think that’s different.” The NBA has, deliberately, not stated what it would take to call off the restart. “This level of testing and oversight is just so many levels more than any other community that I find it hard to imagine that there will be uncontrolled transmission because they’ll be able to identify it so early,” Miller said, while acknowledging some level of risk associated with just playing basketball. “The concerning thing would be if there was identified person-to-person transmission within the bubble, and they demonstrate that all these safeguards are really not preventing that then I think they’ll have to rethink it.”
WHEN FRANK VOGEL has chatted with the Los Angeles Lakers ahead of traveling to the NBA's campus at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida, next week, the conversation has mostly been informational. Players want clarity about how restrictive the so-called bubble will be -- for instance, under what circumstances, if any, can they leave? The coach is asking his players to treat such matters as they would best practices for any other element of being a professional.
"Social distancing, face masks, minimizing contact -- these are habits like anything else," Vogel said. "It's no different than being diligent about your diet, your sleeping habits, your alcohol use, weight training or getting extra shots up."
But nothing is straightforward as teams begin migrating to Orlando on Tuesday for the bubble experiment. For an NBA coach in the age of COVID-19, there are many strange, new challenges to meet on and off the court -- and seemingly every question about how to approach the resumption of the 2020 season presents a paradox.
Returning players need to reestablish peak fitness as quickly as possible, but working into shape too quickly could risk injury. A playoff team must be able to leverage its talents in creative, unpredictable ways -- but being too creative before players have a chance to review the basics might generate more confusion than success. Coaches and players mostly want to return to normality as quickly as possible -- but what if trying to approximate normality only places more emphasis on the abnormal? "We are creatures of habit, and our environment has been shaken up," Vogel said. "It's really going to be a balancing act."
Chris Haynes: Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Lionel Hollins was “red-flagged” as a health concern and will not join the team in Orlando for the NBA restart, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
Ethan Skolnick: Due to a positive test for Covid-19, the Miami Heat will be closing their facility for anything but testing, and will not practice until they get to Orlando. My policy and @5ReasonsSports policy is not to release the name of anyone who tests positive.
Malika Andrews: A poignant, powerful statement from JJ Redick: “To say that we have any sort of comfort level, would be a lie. There is no comfort level...” pic.twitter.com/6UR2jKdNaQ
You’re still a free agent right now and you are eligible to be a replacement player when the NBA season resumes in Orlando. Have you had any conversations with teams about the possibility of getting signed as a replacement player? Raymond Felton: I think my agent has, man. But, to me, I’m up in the air about that whole situation because we don’t have this coronavirus thing under control. I have a family, I have kids, and I have other things to worry about. Do I want to play basketball? Yes, I love basketball. I’ve been out for a whole year, so I definitely want to play and I definitely want to be on somebody’s roster. I want to help out, being that leader in the locker room and on the court and playing my role. But it’s kind of hard when six more guys just had a positive test, so we’re talking about more and more guys every week who are coming up positive when tested. Now, you’re going to put everyone together all in one place and play these games? To me, man, it’s just not safe. I ain’t no expert on this. But, in my opinion, it’s not safe. I’m just not 100-percent comfortable with playing right now because it’s not okay. The cases are steady going up. And they’re going to Florida, which is one of the worst places to go at this moment! I don’t know, man. It’s kind of tough for me. I do want to play. I do love to play basketball, and I’m ready to play and want to play. But it’s a tough situation right now, man. It really is.
You’re still a free agent right now and you are eligible to be a replacement player when the NBA season resumes in Orlando. Have you had any conversations with teams about the possibility of getting signed as a replacement player? Raymond Felton: I think my agent has, man. But, to me, I’m up in the air about that whole situation because we don’t have this coronavirus thing under control. I have a family, I have kids, and I have other things to worry about. Do I want to play basketball? Yes, I love basketball. I’ve been out for a whole year, so I definitely want to play and I definitely want to be on somebody’s roster. I want to help out, being that leader in the locker room and on the court and playing my role. But it’s kind of hard when six more guys just had a positive test, so we’re talking about more and more guys every week who are coming up positive when tested. Now, you’re going to put everyone together all in one place and play these games? To me, man, it’s just not safe. I ain’t no expert on this. But, in my opinion, it’s not safe. I’m just not 100-percent comfortable with playing right now because it’s not okay. The cases are steady going up. And they’re going to Florida, which is one of the worst places to go at this moment! I don’t know, man. It’s kind of tough for me. I do want to play. I do love to play basketball, and I’m ready to play and want to play. But it’s a tough situation right now, man. It really is.
From my understanding, his two week quarantine is almost done. Before he leaves Serbia, he’ll need two negative tests. And once he returns, he’ll need to test negative again. If he gets to Orlando on time, he’d have about two weeks before inter-squad scrimmages begin. Those three scrimmages would precede the seeding games.
Sarah Todd: Donovan Mitchell said that it's no secret that he wasn't happy with Rudy when he tested positive for COVID-19 but that he's ready to move on and stop talking about it and is disappointed that it was all a distraction from the team
Harrison Faigen: Frank Vogel, on his Zoom today, said "I do have a great deal of confidence in the bubble setup. Those positive tests were something I expected." He added that that's why the league was testing weeks before they went down there.
Harrison Faigen: "Honestly it was fairly miserable." -Vogel on cutting the Lakers' traveling party down to 35 people. He says they had to leave off some people off that they feel can help them, and that they did "load up on medical personnel." He also confirmed that they will bring 17 players.
Joe Mussatto: No Thunder player has tested positive for COVID-19 during the NBA's testing period, per a team spokesman.
Mike Trudell: * @Anthony Davis on Orlando: “I think everybody would be mindful of following the rules. I don’t think no one wants to get COVID - (hopefully) guys won’t put themselves or other players/staff in jeopardy. The NBA is doing as much as they can to keep the bubble as safe as possible."
A. Sherrod Blakely: The only #Celtics player who has tested positive for the coronavirus was Marcus Smart (one of the NBA's first to test positive), according to Daniel Theis.
Brian Lewis: Joe Harris is an unrestricted free agent this offseason. But he said he never really considered sitting out the #NBA restart due to COVID-19, and any risk it presented to his health and next contract, which should be the biggest of his career. #Nets
Serena Winters: An update from the NBA & NBPA on additional positive coronavirus tests. 25 total players (of 351) have tested positive since testing started on June 23rd. (7.1%) 10 total team staffers (of 884) have tested positive. (1.1%)
As coronavirus cases rise in different regions across the United States, commissioner Adam Silver has made clear that the league is monitoring the numbers as it prepares to head for Orlando. Silver has described to league executives on conference calls recently that his goal is for the Disney World campus to be the safest place in the U.S. “We have confidence in the plan that we’ve built,” NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum told players and teams on a call this week, according to sources. “It was designed for this.”
Dwyane Wade: Here’s a thought... just wear your damn MASK!
Melli was also concerned that if he left the United States, he may not be able to return to America for the NBA’s resumption, due to travel restrictions. Fortunately, he indicated that none of his family members or friends contracted the coronavirus. “Everybody was affected from this virus,” Melli said. “Luckily all of my family and friends were healthy and are still healthy. I feel very lucky about it. It was a tough period (this spring).”
Mike Vorkunov: Patrick Ewing told SiriusXM NBA Radio he's feeling good after recovering from COVID-19. Said he had a fever, weakness, and shortness of breath. "I was doing everything that was being said — wearing my mask, social distance, keep away from others — and I still caught it."
In April, when associate research scientist in epidemiology Anne Wyllie and her team at Yale released a potentially seminal preprint on saliva testing for SARS-CoV-2, their inboxes exploded. Their results suggested that using saliva samples could be more sensitive than results from the widely used nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs.
One day in mid-May, the NBA emailed. They wanted to talk. Robby Sikka, vice president of basketball performance and technology for the Minnesota Timberwolves and a physician, sent the note, sparking a month of Zoom meetings and collaborative calls that occasionally stretched into the early hours of morning. The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association — busy plotting out the logistics of a potential return to competition — soon hatched a plan with Yale researchers to verify their saliva-based test, which is called SalivaDirect.
Frequent testing — and the infrastructure to support it — presents an enticing research opportunity for scientists. The partnership allows NBA players, coaches and staff who opt-in to supplement their required testing regimen with an extra step that will help bring SalivaDirect closer to public use. Grubaugh said that their team is preparing to apply for emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration with the goal of making the test ready for public use by as early as mid-July. Comparing saliva test results to those that originate from the NBA’s regular testing will help validate the effectiveness of SalivaDirect.
Jason Anderson: Luke Walton on 3 Kings with COVID-19: "You don’t want anyone to get sick, but if you’re trying to find a bright side, if you test positive now, most likely you’ll be ready to play by the time games come around in Orlando. All three of those guys are reporting doing much better."
Mirjam Swanson: Landry Shamet on COVID concerns ahead of restart in Florida: "There's risk, there's no option with no risk at this point. You can get it getting gas today down the street. It's obviously a concern, but we're in the best possible situation to combat that."
Eric Nehm: Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer, on whether or not anyone in the organization has tested positive: "We're not going to discuss our testing policies and what has happened or not happened. Our group has been great and we're going to continue to follow protocol."
Mark Medina: Doc Rivers on the pandemic: "It would be great to have national leadership on this, which we have zero."
Chris Grenham: Kemba Walker says he had no hesitation about heading to Orlando.
Brian Robb: Kemba on hesitations on playing in bubble: "Not at all. My asthma was when I was really young. I've been staying safe in quarantine."
Spencer Dinwiddie: Day 6: I haven’t been in the bed this much since my surgery 😩...back to sleep I go
When play resumes a month from now at Walt Disney World, NBA players will have the option of wearing an Oura Ring. The rings track heart and respiratory rate, as well as temperature and sleep patterns. The hope is that they can be an additional line of defense against the spread of COVID-19.
Axios spoke with Oura CEO Harpreet Singh Rai to learn more about the product and why the NBA sought them out as a partner. How does this technology work? "Put simply, we help people understand and improve their health by focusing on better sleep. Consumers are given three scores: sleep, activity and readiness. And it's that readiness score that's really meant to tell users how they're feeling. The most important data we collect is temperature, which we can capture on the finger, but you don't see it on the wrist. That's one of the key reasons why the NBA isn't partnering with, say, Apple or Whoop."
How will you handle privacy concerns? Harpreet Singh Rai: "We're working with the NBA, NBPA, Excel Sports and CAA to make sure everyone feels comfortable. Think about it — we're tracking sleep, so a coach could ostensibly see that a player only got two hours of sleep the night before a game and decide not to start him. To ensure that doesn't happen, most of the data isn't being shared. The league and union only see something called a Risk Score, which combines heart rate, heart rate variability, temperature and respiratory rate. If the Risk Score is high enough, a team doctor is alerted and can test the player.”
Fournier told AFP in an interview that while the resurgence of the disease was a cause for concern, it had not affected preparations for the restart. "The resurgence is worrying, but it doesn't actually change habits," the 27-year-old France international said. "If anything, seeing more and more cases makes you want to be even more careful."
Fournier believes the NBA's safety protocols, which also include regular testing, should offer enough protection. "For the NBA to take such a risk by resuming the season, the measures will be maximum," Fournier said. "They will make our lives easier so that we do not have to ask questions and make us feel safe every day." Fournier is also reassured by NBA pledges to subject Disney World staff to additional testing. "That's good," he said. "Honestly at first, the measures planned for them were nonsense."
Melissa Rohlin: Rob Pelinka said the goal of the restart is: "Can we create an environment there that is safer than an environment just in the real world." He added that the spikes in Florida are "daunting." "But the whole purpose of creating this environment is not have the virus be there."
Harrison Faigen: Rob Pelinka on the central question facing the restart. "Can we create an environment there that is safer than the real world?" He says that he has "a high level of confidence" in the plans from the NBA. He says they'll also continually gauge how comfortable their players are.
Mark Medina: Magic coach Steve Clifford on the rising COVID-19 cases in Florida: "There’s many more people in both of those places now without masks than before. It’s frustrating. We were doing well for a long time because we were doing what we were supposed to do."
Tim Reynolds: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is doing a Time 100 talk today and said again that if conditions in the bubble get bad, the NBA will stop. "If cases are isolated, that's one thing. .. But if we had a lot of cases, we're going to stop." He also says he won't be there the whole time.
Michael Singer: Updated: 2 members of #Nuggets traveling party tested positive over weekend. Since then, another member of the traveling party has also tested positive. All 3 are asymptomatic, according to source. That's at least 6 cases w/in organization since March.
Even prior to these positive tests, some Nets players -- like others on several NBA teams -- discussed the possibility of sitting out the restart in Orlando, sources said. As the Nets lose more players, it perhaps becomes easier for other key players to decide that there isn't a compelling competitive reason to travel and play.
Even prior to these positive tests, some Nets players -- like others on several NBA teams -- discussed the possibility of sitting out the restart in Orlando, sources said. As the Nets lose more players, it perhaps becomes easier for other key players to decide that there isn't a compelling competitive reason to travel and play.
