AP photo by Rick Bowmer / NBA commissioner Adam Silver speaks during a news conference on Oct. 23, 2019, at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City.The NBA gave teams a more definitive timetable for the restart to the pandemic-interrupted season Friday, including required coronavirus testing that is set to begin this month and mandatory individual workouts in early July before training camps.
The league is still working on completing the health and safety protocols that will essentially become the rulebook for the restart at the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida, and it has told teams that talks with the National Basketball Players Association on those issues are continuing.
Meanwhile, a person with direct knowledge of the talks said Disney workers who will be on the campus during the NBA restart will have to follow a long list of protocols – including constant mask or other appropriate personal protective equipment usage when in the vicinity of any NBA participants or others there for the restart, strict social distancing guidelines and a submission to daily temperature checks and symptom self-assessments.
There are other requirements that will also apply to those working in housekeeping and food service, said the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because those details have not been revealed publicly. The NBPA has said player health and safety will be a top priority, and there are still many concerns about how things will work once teams arrive in Florida.
With negotiations on many levels apparently far enough along to determine a schedule of sorts, though, the league gave teams the go-ahead to immediately start allowing two assistant coaches to deal with voluntary player workouts. The rule had been one coach with one player since teams were given the green light to reopen facilities for the voluntary workouts last month.