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By most accounts, the NBA “bubble” in Orlando has been a tremendous success.
The restart went on without a hitch, as the league strictly enforced health and safety protocols and imposed COVID-19 quarantine standards for those players testing positive prior to arrival.
However, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver wonders whether the league should have built in a break or kept the current schedule.
Silver spoke with Bob Costas during an edition of “CITIZEN” by CNN, stating he felt players could have used a break given some of the recent happenings throughout the country:
“I think they needed a break. And maybe, in retrospect, we should have built in a break along the way in the games,” Silver said, via Dan Feldman of Pro Basketball Talk. “Not necessarily for people to leave the bubble, because then you’ve got to quarantine all over again. But just to give guys several days just to sit back and sort of just reflect on what’s happening in society.”
Players and coaches around the league have spoken at length about the mental rigors of being in the bubble.
Months of separation from family and friends is difficult enough. But the players also wanted to stick to a message of social justice and equality, only to watch another unarmed black man be victimized by police after Jacob Blake was shot in Kenosha, Wisconsin in late-August.
Blake's shooting forced players to again weigh playing against suspending competition to focus on the real issues, like George Hill leading the Milwaukee Bucks to protest one game. Indeed, the playoffs were in danger of being canceled at one point, though players and owners had productive dialogue to seek solutions.
Still, it seems clear Silver feels there has been a heavy burden on the players. Anyone would be hard-pressed to disagree.
