Player enthusiasm about going into the NBA’s Orlando bubble — being away from family and friends for 35/50/90 days to play basketball — largely fades the farther you get away from contending teams. Players will still go, knowing the financial impact of this season not being played, but not everyone is eager to go.
Courtney Lee is eager — and he can’t even play.
Lee suffered a “freak accident” calf injury during the hiatus and cannot suit up, but he still wants to go to Orlando to support his teammates, reports Marc Stein of The New York Times.
The Mavericks' Courtney Lee notified the team this week that he is eager to join them at Disney World despite a calf injury expected to end his season, league sources say. Lee is a popular veteran in the Dallas locker room who emerged as a starter in March before the NBA shutdown
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 27, 2020
Dallas can fill Lee’s roster spot with another player for the restart games. For example, the Mavericks already agreed to terms with Trey Burke, who takes the roster slot of Willie Cauley-Stein (who has decided not to play in Orlando).
However, if Dallas chooses not to fill the roster spot of Lee, then the veteran wing is free to go go to Orlando. He also would have no obligation to his team to play and could leave the bubble and return home if he wanted. (For the record, all players are free to leave the Disney campus whenever they want, however, once they do they have to go through the quarantine process again to practice/play with teammates.)