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Restarting NBA: the most interesting team to watch
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The Milwaukee Bucks are the last NBA team to close their practice structure after an unnamed player tested positive for COVID-19, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Bucks plan to keep their training facility closed until the team leaves for the Orlando “bubble” on Thursday. Miami Heat, Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers and Brooklyn Nets also closed all plants due to positive tests.
The Star Nuggets center, Nikola Jokic, contracted the disease in his native Serbia, while at least one member of the Clippers traveling group and three other members of the Denver traveling group in Orlando showed positive results. In response, the Nuggets shut things down last Saturday, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, and the Clippers followed suit on Thursday.
The Nuggets are currently scheduled for travel to Orlando on July 7, the first day the teams will travel. Clippers and Heat are scheduled to fly on July 8th. As of now, the teams are in the individual training phase to return to speed for the restart of the season. Group training will begin when the teams arrive in Orlando.
The nets reopened their facility last Tuesday after it had previously been closed for a number of days. Nets, like nuggets, are experiencing an outbreak. DeAndre Jordan and Spencer Dinwiddie both proved positive last week, with Jordan excluding himself from Disney. Dinwiddie, meanwhile, has not yet decided.
The NBA knew that positive tests would come out of this reboot, although it probably hoped that they could be delayed at least until the players arrive in the Orlando bubble. Now the NBA needs to figure out how to stop traveling parties from contaminating that bubble. The league has its job to protect players from COVID-19 now.
