The National Basketball Association has invented their own “bubble” in order to keep playing during the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic.
In Lake Buena Vista, Orlando at Disney’s Worldwide Sporting Complex players, coaches, staff members, and many more people have undergone treacherous testing measures in order to continue the basketball season. With averaging two tests a day, the NBA has kept out the Coronavirus.
In a recent article by Chris Mannix, explains his two months of living in the bubble. Mannix says “Honestly, two months in a hotel didn’t bother me that much.” He explains how this may be true for him, however it is not the same story for what the multimillionaire players are used to. Mannix states that at first all the precautionary acts seemed to be a little much at first, it was well worth it as the NBA reported zero Covid cases after the first eight weeks of action.
Peter Botte of the New York Post recently wrote an article “Lebron James can’t believe the ‘ridiculous’ NBA Bubble Policy”. Denver Nuggets coach, Mike Malone, called out the NBA saying, “shame on you, NBA,” for not allowing coaches and staffs’ families to enter the bubble.
The NBA recently allowed the players to bring three members of their family or lifelong friends to enter the bubble after the first round of playoffs. However, they did not allow the coaching staff any family members to come. Players including Lebron James have expressed the attitude change in the locker room after their families arrived. Even though coaches do not physically play, they still endure high amounts of stress and ware on themselves.
Planning to allow additional family members to enter the bubble during the Conference Finals is on the NBA’s mind as they stated, “We are mindful of the incredible hardship these restrictions impose and wish it were not necessary for the health and safety of everyone involved.” The league also responded to the criticism with a statement saying they are limiting the number of people in the bubble due to the highly contagious nature of Covid-19.
The NBA bubble explained by Tadd Haislop is an article recently written on how this seemingly crazy idea has worked so well. The NBA started the bubble by sending all the players and staff a 100 plus page document explaining everything that will happen in the bubble.
If the NBA could get everyone packed inside a place with no outside contact, they would be able to resume the season. The people entering the bubble went through multiple Covid tests making sure that the virus would be cut off at the door. Although, there are exceptions on if players can come and go. Players are allowed to leave the bubble for family concerns; however, they have to notify the NBA before they do. Also, when the players reenter, they have to quarantine until they test negative, keeping the virus out of the bubble.
This bubble idea has started a trend in many other sports as well. As the WNBA have started their own bubble, and the NFL, NHL, and MLB have discussed the possibilities of starting one as well.
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