NBA Commissioner Adam Silver must now focus on health questions and concerns as teams prepare to reassemble in their home markets.
The NBA’s months-long attempt to construct a game-play environment during the novel coronavirus pandemic culminated in a health and safety protocol that will govern its planned return in July.
That document, which numbered 113 pages and was distributed to teams last week, established testing procedures and outlined all aspects of a restricted, single-site campus at Disney World. Despite its exhaustive look at life inside the proposed bubble, the protocol paid little attention to what might happen directly outside of it, where the coronavirus is suddenly surging. Now, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who spent last week appealing to players concerned that basketball would distract from social justice protests, must return to the health question as teams prepare to reassemble in their home markets Tuesday.
In Florida, new coronavirus cases topped 3,000 for the first time Thursday after hovering below 1,000 for much of April and May. The state surpassed 4,000 on Saturday, more than five times the case count when the NBA announced its intentions to play at Disney World last month. Florida reported 2,926 new cases Monday.
Although other areas of the state, such as Miami-Dade County, have been hit harder, Orange County, home to Disney World, saw new cases rise significantly last week. The trend is not lost on Silver, the NBA’s decision-makers and anxious team executives and players.
“We are closely monitoring the data in Florida and Orange County and will continue to work collaboratively with the National Basketball Players Association, public health officials and medical experts regarding our plans,” an NBA spokesman said in a statement.
Orange County’s local government responded Saturday by making masks mandatory while out in public. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who in May championed his state as a temporary home for interrupted sports leagues, has yet to require masks statewide or to roll back his phased reopening plan, which allowed restaurants, bars and gyms in most of the state to operate at 50% capacity June 5.
There have already been real consequences for sports in Florida. Major League Baseball’s Philadelphia Phillies and the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning closed facilities in the state last week after multiple players tested positive.
