Like other players in the Walt Disney World bubble for the NBA restart, JaVale McGee has decided to document his experience as the Los Angeles Lakers are hopeful to be in Orlando, Florida into October.
McGee’s vlog, “Life in the Bubble,” began with a behind-the-scenes look at leaving his family, drive to the airport, getting on the bus that took the Lakers to their hotel, and all the way through the initial quarantine period.
The second episode of the series focuses in on the day just after the quarantine phase, with the major story line being the Lakers’ first practice as a team within the bubble. The episode begins with McGee leaving his hotel room for the first time, and immediately running into Kyle Kuzma.
The two discuss the quarantine and the first practice — while masked — before heading down to the courts. Just as in the first episode, McGee was shocked to see the lengths the league had gone to in order to keep the players safe.
He also was extremely surprised to see the practice courts, which are made up of all 22 NBA teams’ actual courts from their home arena. McGee then shows what practice looks like, which requires that everyone wear a mask unless they are in the middle of practicing.
McGee is then brought to a back room within the hotel where the media availability will take place. There is obviously no media present in the room with him, as the entire session happens virtually through a Zoom call.
Following the first day of practices and press availability, McGee then goes back to his hotel room where he goes over some basic thoughts on the day as a whole. While there are likely some things that he cannot show, McGee is doing fans an incredible service by giving them a behind the scenes look at life in the bubble.
Anthony Davis compares bubble practices to training camp
The entire Lakers roster is going through this new and unbelievably strange thing for the first time together, meaning their experiences are all about the same.
For Anthony Davis, practices within the bubble feel very similar to training camp, as McGee detailed in his vlog. “But it’s kind of starting a training camp just for our bodies,” Davis said.
“Getting our bodies back to playing through contact, getting up and down the floor, and getting in basketball shape,” Davis said. “It’s like a little training camp but at the same time you want to be smart, because you really don’t have a long season here.
“Where a training camp is at the start of a regular NBA season, you go through games and some guys are using the early part of the season to get in shape. This training camp, you kind of have to step on the gas a little bit more.”
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