According to a report from Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, 40 50 NBA players are pushing back against Adam Silver’s plan to return to basketball in late July. No formal requests or demands have been made from the group at this point in time, but the way forward for the league continues to grow murky as July 31st comes into view.
The concerns of the group vary, with the most recent development having to do with the treatment of players who decline to participate in the upcoming late-summer games. While those who choose to stay at home will not be punished in any way, they will also forego any compensation, a fact likely doesn’t sit well considering the players on the eight uninvited teams will still be paid.
In addition to the frustration around compensation, it’s also been reported that some players aren’t thrilled with the restrictions created by the bubble environment in Florida. Family members will not be able to enter the campus until after the end of the first round, meaning husbands will be apart from spouses and fathers will be away from children for up to seven straight weeks. Participants must also remain at the Orlando facility for the entirety of the tournament, a period of up to three-and-a-half months. If any player leaves the environment for any reason, they must be quarantined for 10 days and record two negative coronavirus tests before resuming play. Apprehension is understandable when contemplating a group of professional players being housed in one area for a quarter of a year with nothing to do, no external outlets to burn energy, and no family for a long period of time.
A brand new worry has also begun to emerge over the last few days as the state of Florida has seen a recent spike in COVID-19 cases. While the region directly adjacent to Disneyworld hasn’t been as affected as badly as other areas, the state still saw the largest increase in reported cases on record at 1,698 on Thursday, with the previous high for positive results coming just a week previously on June 4th. As Florida continues to reopen its economy and relax restrictions, it’s entirely possible that a surge in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths will run parallel to the league’s reopening.
All of these factors combine to create an understandable level of concern for anyone making the trip to Orlando, especially players on non-contenders that are highly unlikely to make it past the regular season games or go far into the playoffs. If 50 players from the invited teams actually sit out the season’s return, 15% of the available player pool will vanish, or an average of over two players per team. While the NBA is eager to return and make up significant lost income, the league cannot afford to lose that many participants and still treat the end of the 2019-2020 season as valid. With the July 30th restart date quickly approaching and many facets of the plan still unclear or unacceptable, it’s evident that Adam Silver and the NBA PA still have plenty of work cut out for them, despite announcing their agreement to return to action. As Brian Windhorst of ESPN put it so bluntly on The Jump on Thursday afternoon, I’m gonna tell you, the NBA’s plan is not going to work because you can’t dock players’ pay who don’t want to come in when there’s going to be other players who are not coming into the bubble because their teams aren’t involved who are going to get their full pay even if they have health concerns.
It’s going to be a poop show.
I say that they just turn Epcot into Thunderdome, send everyone in and see who makes it out alive!
¬ We don’t need another hero! ¬
I’m surprised only 40 or 50 players pushed back. That’s a small percentage when you are talking about 22 teams. There is no way they are going to isolate for 4 months, spend 7 weeks without their spouses and kids, and pull this off in Florida of all places.
Damn I was hoping this was going to work. Guess I was too stupid to think of all the things that would derail this. I’m 100% onboard with the Thunderdome thing. Vivek and Vlade as Master Blaster?
Let’s see; 22 teams with 13 players on the roster makes 286.
So if there are 50 players pushing back (and I would not be surprised if the number grew, now that it is out there) that is 17%, or 2.2 players per team…
Not such a small percentage, IMO. But that is a matter of perspective, of course.
I Lol’d pretty damn hard at that Master Blaster pic. Bravo
Ha ha. the old 5 minute photoshop job. Not one of my finer pieces but I was running on fumes.
Thanks for doing the math. I still think 17% is low when you are proposing locking these guys away from civilization for up to 4 months.
Most probably assume they are not going to make the play-ins or get booted quickly so they probably don’t care. I’d be interested to see what players are against it. My assumption is that it would be guys on the Lakers, Bucks, Clipps, teams that are expected to go deep that don’t like the idea.
I have a hard time believing that young famous millionaires will be willing to give up their freedom to play ball. I sure hope so, it just seems unlikely.
I give the NBA and players credit for dealing with this in a professional matter, especially when you look at what MLB is doing.
Locking away from civilization? What civilization?
I’m gonna make this picture my avatar once i get back on my desktop. currently i use CameraMartys Marvin Bagley holding walking boots. this is the change i needed, thank you.
cold world
Agreed! That would make Epcot useful for something beyond incredibly disappointing field trips (I was forced on several as a kid living in Florida).
World Showcase indeed!
Whoa- minimum 7 weeks isolation from families? What happened to the 2 week quarantine? I can definitely see why some players are pushing back on that alone. I guess the teams filled with younger/single talent will fair best if the playoffs happen & talented vets decide to sit out.
Well, the quarantine period is to make sure everyone’s healthy at the start.
I’m not sure what it’s like in Sacramento, but I live in Florida. About 30% of the people I see down here are wearing masks. We are very much living up to our reputation.
Man, it’s a crap shoot here. Some stores will be 10%, others 80. I haven’t figured out a rhyme or reason.
It seems people in the grocery stores are wearing masks, everywhere else it’s a pretty small percentage. Several times I’ve been to Home Depot and there are very few masks.
For some reason my kings buddy wants to go out to restaurants, and is appalled no one is wearing masks. I keep telling him that restaurants are probably full of people who just don’t give a shit, while people who do give a shit are staying home.
Our health club has been open for tennis and swimming only, it’s been pretty nice to be able to go in and get a lane with absolutely nobody there. They open up their services on Monday and I’m not thrilled about having to move through the members to get to the pool. I’ll make it work.
I really think we are about to see Darwin’s theory be put to work here. Sprinkle in some public gatherings, protests, open casinos, and political rallies and shit may hit fan sooner than we realize.
I think schools are supposed to open again this Fall, which is worrisome. My wife’s class sizes can be 40-50 students or more.
I’m afraid some students will not take it seriously, just like when they had a lockdown this year due to a shooter-threat and many students were laughing and talking before they knew it was safe to come out.
I doubt most school districts know quite how this is going to work. There has to be social distancing, so your wife’s class size isn’t going to be that big unless they move her room to the gymnasium. 🙂
If I had to hazard a guess, there will still be a decent number of kids online learning until there’s a vaccine.
Our district has already had over 10% of their students dis-enroll for next year. Some are going the home school route or are wanting continued distanced learning. Couple that with massive cuts coming to education and I think schools are going to be in a hard place to accommodate everyone.
I sure hope so, for everyone’s sake. : )
I would just hope even if it were a big gymnasium that the kids don’t start playing tag and touching each other like kids often do, getting close to tell secrets, etc.
But yeah, hopefully online learning is still used as well until there’s a vaccine.
As an adult, my coworkers and I will follow protocol very carefully I assume. But the employer I’m supposed to return to in August has tweeted things that fit closer to the “hoax-believing” side of things, and we are in a very tight, small room with no windows so we may be stuck in a very bad position. Anyone selling a deep-sea diving suit on EBay?
My wife teaches Kindergarten. Do folks realize how impossible it is to keep 25-30 five year olds from touching each other? Half don’t know how to blow their nose or wash their hands. Bathrooms are a whole other ball of wax that the school is not prepared for.
Right now 85% of the parents where I am at in Placer County want a full 100% return to normal schooling. I wonder what their reaction is gonna be when a kid or teacher in their own child’s class gets sick. Imagine the rumor mill if a teacher calls in sick for a few days. People are likely to panic, even if it isn’t COVID.
No doubt. I’ve been involved in trying to plan for our office’s return to work, I could only imagine if you had to corral a bunch of toddlers.
What’s happening in Placer isn’t surprising. The stay-at-home/re-opening guidelines have done a decent job of bending the curve. But the suppression itself causes many to think the potential harm for the virus is overstated.
Those folks really should let the experts handle this, before we end up with a half million dead Americans.
IMHO.
I couldn’t agree more.
I had this circular argument with a friend of mine who stated that we should open back up 100% because we haven’t hardly had any cases up here and its all been overblown. I told him we haven’t hardly had any cases up here because we closed down so early. We were both smart and lucky about it. He couldn’t understand that logic.
I used the best example of the Bay Area being one of the first major metropolitan areas to shut down and as a result had far fewer cases than similar metro areas. He still didn’t buy that. So I asked him how he would explain the Bay Area numbers, and no surprise, he couldn’t.
It’s like that old Head And Shoulders shampoo commercial:
guy 1: “I didn’t know you use Head and Shoulders? But you don’t have dandruff…”
guy 2: “EXACTAMUNDO!”
I heard a great line the other day:
It’s like standing in the rain with an umbrella over your head but complaining about having to hold the umbrella because you are not getting wet.
But is it like rain on your wedding day?
Wedding day .. I feel Greg will have something to do with this eventually. Ending badly .. Sigh!
I’ve had this circular argument a few times now…
He sounds like fun company.
Yeah, those are all important points, Adam.
Adamsite you are fucked. Man I feel for you here.
That sounds so weird to me. Here in Germany, if you don´t wear a mask, you don´t get inside a store, it´s that simple. I just don´t get it, it´s not that big an imposition, is it? Nobody likes wearing those things, but it´s not the end of freedom or democracy. I really don´t get whats so complicatd about it. Some people I talk to make it seem like wearing a freaking mask for a couple of minutes a week for a few months has shattered their faith in our society. Strange.
IT IS AN INFRINGEMENT OF THEIR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO DO WHATEVER THEY WANT WITHOUT GIVING A SHIT ABOUT OTHERS! Aka, the Murican way.
Don’t you know that the Founding Fathers wanted that all Americans would be unencumbered by masks, and have the right to bear arms, among other things?
I see, thanks for clearing that up buddy.
It’s the strangest thing. And I’ve seen the same thing: people on social media saying it’s just part of government’s attempt to bring about socialism. I guess wearing a mask is quite the slippery slope ð
By the way weren’t there a few protesters/demonstrations in Germany against lockdown policies as well? Can’t remember but I thought I read about that. Appreciate hearing your perspective.
Human beings are selfish. Americans are, by and large, more selfish than the citizens of most countries.
I’m in the Bay Area and almost everyone is wearing masks all the time. The only time I don’t wear one is when I run but I run at night so I’m one of the only people outside. For the most part I’m happy people in the Bay have taken this really seriously.
Same. Our company returned to work on May 4, and we are required to wear masks/gloves/glasses at all times, and there is hand sanitizer placed everywhere. Fortunately, our company isn’t big, and even though our boss wants us to work reduced hours to limit the time we are in office, he is still giving us full paychecks (including we don’t have to work Friday which is nice!). The only time I don’t wear a mask is when I run too, and I always will run to the other side of the street if there is someone walking/running coming up on my side of the sidewalk.
There are some places like gyms that are set to reopen soon in the Bay Area, but even with the new rules they have set, I’m nowhere near comfortable going back to the gym yet. Even though like you said most people in the Bay Area take this seriously, I’m sure there are a small few who don’t, and that’s all it’ll take to ruin something like going to the gym, no matter how careful you are.
Yeah I’m not super comfortable going back to any public place where there will be even a moderate number of people. At the church where I pastor, we suspended all on campus operations on March 10th which was before any of the SIP orders and we aren’t planning on coming back to full services most likely until there’s a vaccine. Our church along with about 50 other Bay Area churches (and more are signing on all the time) have agreed to all come back at the same time only once county health officials specifically tell us that in person services are safe for both our congregants and the community at large. We’ve gotten a little push back but thankfully it hasn’t been much. It seems like everybody kind of gets it.
It’s a little strange that these objections are coming out now because I thought the players association was involved in creating the plan and on board with it before it was agreed and announced.
I would think that the players’ gripes would have gone through the association, and the association would have gotten the “ok” from players before agreeing.
That would imply a unanimous vote from players. I don’t think the association works on the basis of unanimity. I guess then that the players who voted against are voicing their concerns.
It has been reported that each team was represented only by their union rep, and that wasn’t adequate enough representation for all the differing views. Looks like a bigger meeting is taking place today.
So the players aren’t just gonna shut up and dribble?
Good for them!
This was getting too close to a modern day Roman Colosseum.
Unrelated but just watched Game of Zones S7 E3..The Sun-Kings made another cameo and its hilarious! Divac even passes up on Luka’s offer to helpðð
Here is the full series for those that missed it.
Just cancel it already.
Shrugs.
Also, inevitable.
More Shrugs.
Haiku’s are dumb.
Is this a Haiku?
This keeps getting worse.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>There's growing concern re NBA's bubble plan. Players want more freedom of movement while in Orlando. One agent estimates that 2/3 of the top 40 would refuse to play under the proposed restrictions. <a href=”https://t.co/IrM5MHPu5e”>https://t.co/IrM5MHPu5e</a></p>— Howard Beck (@HowardBeck) <a href=”https://twitter.com/HowardBeck/status/1271497233662443520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>June 12, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
It’s very un-Silver like not to have this dialed in before announcing the plans. He’s got some work to do still.
I’m thinking the players who are really beginning to realize their limitations once they reach Orlando. It’s gonna be like being stuck on a docked cruise ship for 3 months.
Now THAT sounds rough.
obviously this is down on the list of issues with the plan, BUT I wonder how many of the players without a significant to invite are dreading forced celibacy for up to a 1/4 of the year.
No loves, no clubs, no parties, no friends.
It’s gonna be a bunch of NBA dudes in the hotel lobby bar hanging out and going stir crazy. If the NBA thinks they had an issue with the players association or player collusion in the past, they haven’t seen anything yet.
Cases in Florida are going up, and the restrictions are there to protect the players and others. I hope Kyrie Irving’s concerns about restrictions aren’t secretly founded on some kind of virus-hoax belief, considering his flat-earthing background.
Is there no other location option? Right now I’d avoid Florida like the plague.
Fixed:
Well I’ll definitely avoid it during a plague.
Yeah, but Bugs was probably doing that to get rid of Mickey!
But they’re great skydiving buddies.
v
And just like that, America changed gender.
Well, I’ve gone from a 20% chance of this thing happening just a few days ago to about a 5% chance of this happening. 3 months in isolation in a Disney hotel just isn’t going to work for the average human being, especially ones in their 20’s who want to enjoy their lives and families. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to do it.
I think it’d be fun, like a bio-dome experience. But I’m introverted and would enjoy staying in my room after work. But yeah, I understand why a significant number of players in their 20’s would not enjoy it so much.
It does seem like this thing might not happen now.
I know this is contingent on who actually decides to play and everything…
BUT which players are even eligible to be acquired if the season were to resume? I’m sure the organization will roll with players like Kyle Guy or Dequan Jeffries over others. However; what players are available?
If Fox or Hield opt out-what caliber of players would we see Sacramento be able to sign?
If the best players are opting out, I’d say just cancel the season and prepare for 20-21. If the best players are in, let’s sign some backups and play some basketball IF IT’S RELATIVELY SAFE.
Only time will tell-just wondering what the player pool even looks like right now?
What if it happened that a significant number of players opted out and were replaced by G Leaguers……and THE KINGS WON IT ALL.
Which has a more prominent place in The Sacramento Kings Hall of Fame Vault =
This achievement, or our Vegas Summer League Championship?
Hrmmmmm…
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>NEWS: The University of Houston is immediately suspending all voluntary workouts after six symptomatic student-athletes tested positive for COVID-19.</p>— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) <a href=”https://twitter.com/slmandel/status/1271551924710412288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>June 12, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
And so it begins…again.
Clammoring on about reopening the economy….only to have it shut down again in the future.
Bama keeps getting hit with Covid too.
#ThanksBama
Just formally end the season and focus on the next one. Everything about this current end-of-year plan just sounds lame to me.
Yeah, I’m at that point. Treat it as a lock out. Plan for next season, hopefully starting in early 2021. Be smart, be safe, and plan for the future.
Meanwhile my foodie/Kings fan buddy is sending me photos of all the packed restaurants downtown.
I figure we have around 2-3 weeks before Armageddon. I’m headed up to my favorite high Sierra trail tomorrow to check on my cave.
So, it seems that Kyrie Irving is voicing his (and others’) misgivings about entertaining the predominantly white masses with all that is going on right now. I figured as much. It is a valid concern and I guess there are no easy answers.
Oh, a great opportunity to link to my earlier comment!
Damning evidence that Kyrie Irving reads The Kings Herald!
Just cancel the season already. I’m not a believer that any amount of lost revenue is worth the possible loss of life, especially seeing the situation in Florida.
I just truly don’t understand how people don’t take what’s happening seriously. This is a global pandemic of a deadly virus and we are living in a country that is having a very hard time managing this. If people want to be pissed about masks and social distancing and whatnot, be pissed that the entire point of the lockdowns was to buy the federal government time, and in their complete incompetence and gross negligence, they have squandered that time. They just estimated this week that the lockdowns, in all their various stages across the states, may have prevented up to 60 million infections. SIXTY MILLION. And earlier, Columbia University estimated that if lockdowns had started a week earlier, the death toll might be lower by anywhere from 30k to 50k.
It is so completely, uniquely, frustratingly American to decide that we’re bored and that our individual whims are greater than the collective safety of the people around us. We are no longer a country that even grasps the concepts of collective action or making personal sacrifice. Rant time over. Be safe and be well, everyone, especially if you’re attempting a return to normal life.
Let’s face it, it’s every state for itself at this point. Extremely happy to live in a blue state right now.
I moved from Seattle back to Oregon the day before they confirmed the first case up there. Look at the stats between California, Oregon, and Washington, and I can’t tell you how strange it feels.
I’ve seen America man. I’m not surprised, in the least.
How many times in your life do you think you’ve seen a headline declaring how uneducated we are, compared to the rest of the world? Shit is going to catch up to us sooner or later.
Fair enough.
I guess what I meant is that, yes, rationally, I can completely understand it because of what we know about America and Americans, but I guess emotionally, I just couldn’t understand how something so devastating and world-changing couldn’t break through to people.
Maybe that´s harder for some if you´re constantly reminded that you´re the greatest country in the history of the world (whatever the F that means) and that you don´t have to play by the same rules as everyone else.
Americans refuse to quantify why we are the greatest country in the history of the world, which is one of the reasons why we are the greatest country in the history of the world!
To be fair, Bagley has trouble drinking with his right hand as well.
The thought of Kyrie as a leader of the players is very scary and not likely to end well for the NBA or Nets !
America: “Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming.”
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>NEW: Florida’s Department of Health on Saturday morning reported a new daily record high of 2,581 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 surpassing the previous high by 679. The previous high was hit on Friday. And the high before that was hit on Thursday.<br> <a href=”https://t.co/rKVBzwQKbn”>https://t.co/rKVBzwQKbn</a></p>— Miami Herald (@MiamiHerald) <a href=”https://twitter.com/MiamiHerald/status/1271837143984492544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>June 13, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
Well I’m sure it’s not the Lopez brothers who are objecting to being trapped in Disneyworld works for weeks. Those dudes love Disneyworld.
This is news today about our Fox.
https://sports.yahoo.com/kings-deaaron-fox-among-group-214301750.html
I think Safety Cat could be Vivek. He is always 2 seconds ahead of me in reading and has posted 2 seconds ahead of me with a silly ideas in posting. I’ve been Wha Da .. He might be the first to go Plaid with Thumbs up award?
 
Welp.. Here is the latest Mock Draft.
My new King hope for the future is 40th. Xavier Tillman. If I can’t have Draymond Green, I can get his stand-in.
Yeah, I’m pretty convinced that, unless someone unexpectedly falls, they should trade out of that 12-13 position. Either into the late-1st or, preferably, the 2021 & 2022 drafts. I just don’t see anyone in that range that is any more interesting than a bunch of guys projected closer to the end of the 1st round. I’d be perfectly fine with trading out of the 2020 1st entirely (depending on the return, of course.). I think there are likely some guys that could fall to 34 (Poku, Reed, Bolmaro, Williams,etc.) that I’d rather have than a lot of guys being projected in the teens.
Ultimately, I would do pretty much all I could to acquire potential lottery picks in 2021 and/or 2022.
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