NBA news: Teams inquiring on players skipping return to cities, going straight to campus sites for camp

When the 2019-20 NBA season had to go into hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many players did not stay in their franchises' cities.

When the 2019-20 NBA season had to go into hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many players did not stay in their franchises’ cities, instead returning to their homes. With the NBA intending to ramp up the resuming of league operations by June and the summer, teams, on Friday, have asked the Association whether players can arrive directly to “campus sites” instead of teams’ cities, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

According to ESPN, NBA teams desire preventing a second up to two-week quarantine period for their players by bypassing returning to cities still implementing stay-at-home social-distancing policies.

This would instead send NBA players directly to proposed sites for a resumed league’s bubble location, streamlining the process of working out and re-starting the season.

Teams prefer to avoid having to quarantine significant portions of their rosters twice; once upon returning to more restrictive Covid-19 markets and again upon arrival at the bubble/campus site. https://t.co/2ARTFUK6rQ

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 22, 2020

The NBA has unofficially set June 1 as the date for teams to start recalling players who have, at the time of the league’s hiatus in mid-March, left to go to their homes for a quarantine. In an effort to prevent another two-week quarantine period, teams want players to congregate at a uniform campus site to prepare for the resumed season.

Roughly one third of the NBA regular season remains and the entire playoffs. One proposal by the league has seen the regular season be shortened to 70 games before diving into the postseason, which could severely impact teams on the cusp of playoff contention fail to make a significant effort to get back into the bracket; however, in the West, for example, the nearest teams to the eighth seed Memphis Grizzlies are the Portland Trail Blazers and New Orleans Pelicans (3.5 games back), and in the East, 5.5 games separate No. 8 Orlando Magic and outside-looking-in Washington Wizards.

Teams requesting players to go to a campus site could be one way to get the NBA back on with fewer delays.

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