It remains to be seen on what will happen next for the 2019/20 NBA season. But a lot of us, including the commissioner himself, are still optimistic that the game will get back on its feet soon.
Adam Silver is still faced with a huge conundrum. Ever since the league suspended its season due to the coronavirus pandemic, basketball has been put into uncharted territory along with other major sporting events in the world.
However, there is some sense of hope that the season will resume soon. In what should be considered as a step in the right direction, Silver informed all NBA teams that his office will allow workouts by players at team facilities no sooner than May 8.
This should give the players teams enough time to prepare to return back into action and hopefully the league will follow through with a more detailed plan in order to get our basketball back once more.
Here is today’s edition of NBA 2020 updates provided by SBOBET.
Will we see players back on the courts soon?
Players are expected to ramp up their conditioning especially when team facilities are to be open for them starting on May 8.
With the league commissioner’s blessing, this move is an initiative for the league to get back their players into tip-top shape especially since majority of them don’t have the luxury of having a basketball court that can be quickly accessed.
Unless you’re someone like LeBron James or one of Jimmy Butler’s teammates for the Miami Heat who are lucky, a lot of players will admit that they haven’t touched a ball during the lockdown. Instead, they have resorted to keep themselves fit by solely focusing on their conditioning.
For majority of the players who don’t have access to a basketball facility, they have been keeping themselves busy by venturing into various hobbies and other endeavors. Some have unleashed their gamer alter-egos while others have been trying to make some music to touch upon their creative side.
Victor Oladipo, Andre Drummond, and Aaron Gordon have dropped their mixtapes over these past few days while players like Josh Hart, Meyers Leonard, and Josh Richardson were busy honing their skills in several video games.
Assuming all players would return to practice starting on May 8, it’s expected that they will all undergo a full training camp before returning to action that would last probably around three to four weeks. That way, players won’t feel that they are being rushed back and the injury risk will be reduced significantly.
Looking deeper into the NBA’s reopening of facilities
Adam Silver is said to reopen training facilities across different clubs, but there will be certain limitations to consider.
Depending on which city or state a player’s staying in right now, that may determine on whether you can have access to the facility right away.
Oklahoma and Georgia were among the first states that have relaxed their stay-at-home rules, which opens the door to possible workouts at their gyms. Other places might follow suit provided that there will be no government restrictions.
“The purpose of these changes is to allow for safe and controlled environments for players to train in states that allow them to do so, and to create a process for identifying safe training options for players located in other states,” said the league in their official statement.
Since all players live in different parts of the country, the NBA has also considered in giving alternatives for any team that is prohibited from making their facility available to their players.
That could include having players working out at facilities of rival NBA teams, and that is heavily contingent on where the player is currently residing.
Furthermore, the league has proposed that there will be no more than four players that would be permitted to train within the allowed facilities. And at the same time, only one staffer can join in with them to monitor their progress.
Group activities such as organized scrimmages and the usage of non-team facilities are still prohibited as a way to enforce this strict measure.
The league has yet to iron out the full details for this season’s resumption. There is growing speculation that the NBA season will be stretched to as far as early September as an attempt to try and stage a full playoff schedule.
There is also a growing belief that all teams will be gathered to play in a neutral venue, namely at Las Vegas, to avoid the catching and spreading the coronavirus.
Regardless on whether this will all push through or not, the Lakers, Clippers, and the Bucks still own the highest NBA 2020 odds of winning the title this term.
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