NBA and union agree to let unrestarted teams train in individual bubbles

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla .– The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association announced a deal on Tuesday night for the eight teams that had not been invited to the league restart in a bubble at Walt Disney World Resort to have group practices volunteers in their facilities from mid-September.

The agreement calls for players to train “while residing in a campus-like environment” and includes “comprehensive health and safety protocols” for all participating players, coaches and team staff.

This fits with the guidelines that NBPA executive director Michele Roberts presented to ESPN last month, when asked what it would take to reach a deal allowing non-bubble teams to have some sort of out of season training.

“As far as I know, I haven’t changed the position I took,” said Roberts. “That’s the position the players took: that we spent all this time figuring out what we thought was the safest way to get back to playing, and we agreed that we got that, and all that is less than that is, by definition, a dangerous or less secure way to proceed that players won’t support – period. I never hesitated. I still don’t.

“I’m not aware of the conversations going on between these eight teams. I hear rumors like everyone else. But I have been consistent, and I intend to stay consistent because every time I do. asked the players if they wanted to. change our position, their answer has always been “no.” And so, look, there are players who maybe want to play. But each of them wants to be safe. . “

Since the NBA came to an agreement with the NBPA to return to play in June, the fate of the eight teams that have been left out – the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves and New York Knicks – has been a point of contention. These teams have repeatedly advocated the possibility of working with their players before the start of next season.

With this deal, they will get it. Teams will be allowed to begin voluntary training with players on September 14 and go through October 6 in a series of phases.

During the first phase, from September 14 to 20, there will be voluntary individual training at team facilities, as well as daily COVID-19 testing for all participating players, coaches and staff. The second phase, which runs from September 21 until the end of training sessions on October 6, can include training, skill or conditioning sessions and scrums, also with daily testing.

Each team will create a “campus-like environment” in their hometown to mimic what teams in Orlando, Fla. Did. To participate in training sessions, players and team staff will need to stay on campus.

According to the agreement, participation is voluntary. A team’s workouts can include contracted players, as well as up to five players who are not currently under contract with an NBA team but who were part of the G League affiliate last season.