The NBA takes measures to extreme after having to suspend 12 games in a week due to the teams did not have enough players available between positives, quarantines and injuries. And it can happen like Setphen Curry , who found out in the middle of a game that he had tested positive.
Curry was out due to injury but was on the bench with Joel Embiid and removed his mask to eat or speak. The player left the court and the game continued playing, in another, Jonas Valanciunas had to go to rest because he had been in contact with another positive.
The NBA had this situation outside of a bubble, but the players did not want to suffer the psychological exhaustion of being weeks in some cases, months away from their families again.
Meanwhile, the NBA commisioner Adam Silver admitted that contagions would be inevitable although, except for Dallas Maverick (four positive) or Washington Wizards (six positive) there have been no major outbreaks in the teams.
But the problem is not only the positives: in a league where it is played every other day, tracking and quarantines are causing some teams to lose up to seven players in rosters between 14 and 17.
The league has only released the midseason schedule because it knew it would need room to relocate postponed games, but the current chaos has forced protocol to be tightened.
The measures range from the anecdotal no high-fives or hugging, no interacting with the opponent before or after matches, and the locker room talk may not last more than 10 minutes to the more serious: when they play at home.
However, they will only be able to leave their homes to go to the equipment facilities with a proximity sensor or essential tasks when they play outside, they won’t be able to leave their hotel room. The closest thing to going back to a bubble without being inside.
