The NBA is planning to allow teams – where permitted by local governments – to open facilities Friday. So far, we’ve heard mostly about teams that can’t or won’t. There’s still plenty of caution amid the coronavirus epidemic.
But a few teams will welcome players.
Jeff Zillgitt and Mark Medina of USA Today:Even though the NBA targeted Friday for teams to open their practice facilities to a limited number of players at a time, just a few teams – the Cleveland Cavaliers, Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets and maybe another team or two – plan to make their facility available on that day.
The Houston Rockets had planned to open Friday, but Texas Gov. Greg Abbott pushed back the opening of gyms until May 18 so the Rockets will follow those guidelines.
This won’t be a resumption of business as usual. There will be drastic protocols in place for these voluntary individual workouts.
But players want to play. Some are reportedly secretly practicing in “closed” gyms.
NBA teams have the resources to provide safer conditions. Once it becomes sufficiently safe and legal, teams should open their facilities.
Though not necessarily Friday, plenty of other teams will soon. Zillgitt and Medina assembled a breakdown of each team’s plan.