Jared Dudley: NBA will allow players to leave ‘bubble

NBA commissioner Adam Silver has used “campus” – rather than the more popular term, “bubble” – for the setting of a resumed season.

That seemed designed to alleviate concerns about harsh restrictions on players.

But maybe “bubble” is just inaccurate.

Lakers forward Jared Dudley sure made it sound that way.

Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times:

On a video call with @JaredDudley619 right now, he says there’s a misconception of the “bubble” concept when the season restarts. Players won’t be confined by league orders, he says, but it’ll be made clear that if you go somewhere and catch Covid-19 you won’t be able to play.

— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) May 20, 2020

Kyle Goon of Southern California News Group:

Jared Dudley speaking to LA media just now said he expects the NBA to allow players the freedom to come and go from any game site they choose, but teams may put more stringent rules in place to keep players from leaving the "bubble" and protect their players.

— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) May 20, 2020

On a followup question, Jared Dudley says he believes most players would be responsible and not leave the bubble. But: "every team got a Rodman, he just doesn’t have green and blue hair," https://t.co/08MGoR4Jvp

— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) May 20, 2020

Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic:

Silver also told the Board of Governors last week that he does not expect a “medical bubble” — but an environment in which people can re-enter and undergo retesting.

Maybe Dudley has an accurate understanding of the NBA’s plan. Maybe he doesn’t.

This is why it was foolish for the union to poll players, even informally, with a simple yes-no question about resuming the season. Everyone has different ideas about how it’d work.

The version Dudley described sounds alarming. Coronavirus is highly contagious. If a single player contracts it, he could spread it to other players. It’s not enough to simply say that player could no longer play.

Perhaps, players could be “allowed” to leave but face multi-day isolation and testing periods upon return. That way, someone who contracts coronavirus outside the bubble would be more likely to be detected before spreading it inside the bubble. It’s unclear how that’d work with games ongoing, though.

The NBA wants everyone to get comfortable with some positive tests within the centralized location. But the league must also prevent coronavirus from spreading enough to undermine the whole operation.