The NBA preseason is getting underway on Friday and the regular season is set to begin on December 22 despite players having a little over two months of rest. Ahead of the upcoming season, Khris Middleton of the Milwaukee Bucks shared his view on the NBA conducting a season amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Definitely paying attention to those different leagues,” Bucks forward Khris Middleton said during a Zoom media call last week, via The Athletic's David Aldridge. “We just saw Portland close down their facility with positive tests, so I think that definitely got our guys’ attention, if we didn’t have it before. You definitely have to be smart. We have to be cautious. We have to be safe. Because it is a real problem. It is a real pandemic going on right now. Even though it doesn’t seem like it when we’re on the court, once you step off this court you have to do the right things, not just for ourselves, but for the people around us.”
Of course, for those that don't know, the NBA was forced to pause their 2019-2020 season when the COVID-19 pandemic first began. But after months of planning, the league was able to masterfully conduct the rest of the season in a bubble that took place in Orlando, Florida.
However, with the Los Angeles Lakers being just two months removed from winning the NBA title, the league is going to have another season begin. Only this time around, the NBA isn't going to be operating from within a bubble.
There's a chance, with the talk of vaccines arising in recent weeks, that a vaccine is available for players during the course of the season. Despite the skepticism some may have with the vaccines, the NBA prefers if their employees receive them.
We've seen other major sports leagues fall short when it comes to playing amid the COVID-19 crisis. Middleton, who knows it's going to be challenging for the NBA to avoid any issues, hopes that players around realize what they have to do to keep each other safe.
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