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As players infected with coronavirus, contact tracing quarantines and incidental injuries are slim, the NBA has no plans to suspend the season, a league spokesperson told ESPN.
“We had anticipated that there would be game postponements this season and have planned the schedule accordingly,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass told ESPN in a statement. “There is no plan to interrupt the season and we will continue to be guided by our medical experts and our health and safety protocols.”
Some team leaders have raised concerns privately over the last hectic days, but Commissioner Adam Silver has remained committed to moving games forward with a minimum of eight players available per team and trying to finish as much as possible. the timing before the large-scale access to vaccinations that could begin to restore normality in the league and the country.
“They tell us it will be better later in the season, but I just hope it doesn’t break the league in the next few weeks,” a general manager told ESPN.
While the NBA has had a significantly lower percentage of positive tests than national numbers from a pandemic that kills 4,000 Americans a day, the league appears to be in the middle of its most prolific week of positive tests among players right now.
The Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics were nearly unable to meet requirements to play with eight available players this weekend due to players quarantined due to positive testing and contact tracing; and the Miami Heat, who started with seven eligible players on Sunday, have seen their game with Boston postponed.
As tough as the season has been, the league has still avoided just one generalized outbreak within a team and had only postponed two games so far. The NBA has built a shortened schedule with the postponement expectation and the flexibility to catch up on games.
Nonetheless, teams are learning what the NFL has been up to this season: The loss of key personnel through positive tests and contact tracing quarantines has a big impact on results, and franchises are still learning how to deal with it. .
Since the league began publishing a weekly number of positive player tests, including its most recent data on January 7, there have been 63 confirmed cases out of around 550 players. League sources are reporting a minimum of seven new cases in the past week – as well as more than 20 players losing up to 63 active days to contact tracing protocols during that time.
It weighs on the rosters and it could get worse before it gets better for the teams.
But the league sees evidence of an even greater risk of infection when the league is shut down, which is another reason medical and medical experts advising the NBA not to push for a shutdown now, have sources told ESPN. When players were tested on their return to team training camps, the NBA saw spikes in positive tests – including 48 cases on December 2.
Against the backdrop of thousands of deaths a day and millions more infected and facing severe personal and financial hardship, the NBA widely understands that it is forced to find a level of context in its own daily frustrations.
Managers and coaches are frustrated that the quality of play and preparation has suffered, and the competitive balance is compromised. Teams struggle to find ways to develop camaraderie and chemistry when staff and players are constantly separated, and rituals once as simple as shootouts have become unnecessary when players sometimes have to wait an hour to 90 minutes for the return of test results before. they are allowed inside the establishment.
Additionally, organizations are concerned about how contact tracing protocols that isolate players for several days impact conditioning and the risk of injury upon their return to teams.
“We have to throw the players on the pitch and get them back into shape,” a general manager said on Sunday. “It leads to more injuries and more wasted time.”
Ahead of the season, the NBA had discussed expanding the roster to 19, including the possibility of keeping four players under bidirectional contracts on the rosters, but the change was not adopted.
Tim Bontemps of ESPN contributed to this report.
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