Now that the NBA has officially wrapped up its seeding games portion of the season restart, commissioner Adam Silver has admittedly been impressed with how the bubble environment at Walt Disney World has held up so far.
Despite Silver’s initial uncertainty that the league would be able to avoid any significant setbacks, the safety protocols established by the NBA and NBPA has resulted in zero confirmed positive coronavirus (COVID-19) tests for the fourth consecutive week.
Meanwhile, the level of competition from the 22 teams that were in play provided some major intrigue heading into the postseason. However, Silver acknowledged that he still has regrets about the remaining eight teams that were left out of the bubble.
It appears the league is still doing what it can to put an end to their hiatus as well. The NBA’s plans to open up a second bubble died down with the focus centered on the 22 teams in Orlando.
According to Shams Charania of the Athletic, talks with the NBPA have picked back up for the eight teams to be active in September:
Sources: The NBA and NBPA are in serious talks on in-market bubble program in September for the eight franchises that were not part of Orlando restart, with framework:
– Daily testing
– One week of individual workouts
– Two weeks of group practices
– One hour of 5-on-5 per day
The NBA had initially planned to include all 30 teams at the bubble in Orlando for the season restart. However, the lack of incentive and risks involved for the eight teams that were already out of playoff contention spurred them to opt out.
The league may have some trouble trying to once again convince these teams to take part in meaningless activity under a strict set of restrictions for an entire month. Of course, it does provide them with an opportunity to avoid a significantly longer layoff.
There is no telling what kind of effect the prolonged time off can have once the NBA returns to a sense of normalcy.
Silver on success of bubble
While Silver may have had his doubts about whether or not the bubble could completely prevent an outbreak, it seems he was always optimistic about the benefits restarting the season could provide. His hunch proved to be correct with no shortage of intrigue in and around the bubble.
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