BOITUMELO RANTAO
THE National Basketball Association (NBA) resumes the 2019-2020 season this week, more than four months after the COVID-19 outbreak forced the abrupt suspension of the season.
Games will take place without fans inside a quarantined-safe site at Walt Disney World.
The delayed regular season will debut sporting a renovated look and feel that will be unfamiliar, yet exciting, to basketball players and fanatics around the globe.
Some players have been vocal with concerns regarding health, social justice issues, and restrictions that have been permitted within the bubble.
In terms of the plan, which was approved by the NBA players association, any players who were not comfortable with the return regulations could opt-out as they see fit.
Players who remain will be subject to regular COVID-19 testing and if a player leaves the resort campus, they will have to quarantine themselves and be subject to additional testing.
“From my standpoint, it’s going very well, and I’m cautiously optimistic that we’re on the right track,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver told the New York Times. “But I also recognize what we’re doing has not been done before, and the competition is just beginning. The real test will come when players are commingling, playing basketball without masks and without physical distancing.”
The latest round of testing returned zero positive COVID-19 tests among 276 present players which only validates isolation protocols.
As excitement for the season boils over we anxiously await Thursday, July 30. The LA Clippers, with reigning NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Kawhi Leonard, take on city rivals LA Lakers led by LeBron James. Each of the 22 teams present will participate in 8 seeding games spanning over a six-week period that concludes on August 14.
The @utahjazz are aiming to make noise for the NBA Restart?@spidadmitchell’s squad have the fourth best record in the West, and will tip off Seeding Games this Friday?? #WholeNewGame pic.twitter.com/bZ9Jpccopz
— NBA Africa (@NBA_Africa) July 28, 2020
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