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SI Insider: A Look at the Latest NBA League Memo Ahead of the Resumed 2020 NBA Season

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TV-G
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3:07

A very detailed 113-page memo was released to the NBAPA sharing the isolation and testing protocols for the resumed season. SI's Chris Mannix shares his thoughts on the memo, particularly a big point of contention regarding the testing of on-site Disney World employees.

Video Transcript: 

Robin Lundberg: We're learning more and more about the NBA plan to return to play, including a 113-page memo that was circulated to the players association. For more on that, I'm joined by our senior writer, Chris Mannix. Chris, what's your reaction to what we know about the NBA's plan here?

Chris Mannix: Well, it is a very detailed set of protocols for how the league will return and what kind of isolation measures, quarantine measures that the league is going to take once the players officially report to Orlando. There are some kind of goofy things in the memo. You've got rules on not playing doubles ping pong. You've got, you know, basically a snitch line that is that is called the hotline, where players or staffers can be reported for breaking said protocols. But there are some very serious questions located in this report. And the most specific one that I keep hearing, Robin, is that it's very clear that Disney employees are going to be allowed to come and go from that campus. And when they return to the campus or bubble, they are not going to be tested for coronavirus. They will be testing terms of temperature checks. They'll be asked about symptoms, but they will not go through the same testing procedures that players, coaches, and staffers are going to go through while they're there. And I've been hearing from different team personnel that have expressed concern that this effectively eliminates the whole bubble concept. If you've got people coming and going that are potentially exposed regularly to coronavirus, what is the point of having some tested and not the other?

Robin Lundberg: That's a fair concern for sure, Chris. But, you know, isn't where the NBA will be safer than where anybody would be normally like going to the grocery, going outside, all that sort of stuff?

Chris Mannix: Absolutely. It's going to be one of the safer places in the country if the problem is it's just not the safest it can possibly be. Look, we've seen how rapidly coronavirus can spread from player to player, staffer to staffer. I mean, you saw the Brooklyn Nets with four players testing positive just as this pandemic hit. NBA players are very close to each other in proximity. You have, you know, different bodily fluids being shared on the court as you bump into each other and go up against each other one-on-one. And there is a genuine concern that if one player happens to get infected, it could wind up infecting three, four, or five players. And then the integrity of the postseason that the NBA has attempted so hard to preserve, could be completely detonated because they do have rules in place that say if one player tests positive. That player has to be removed for a certain period of time. He has to go to an isolation hotel. And what happens if that player spreads it to another? I mean, this could I mean, look, this could go perfectly if the NBA does it right. But it also could go downhill very quickly.