The NBA has allowed the players to leave their respective teams’ home cities as the league remains on hiatus because of the coronavirus, according to the league reports.
Traveling is not preferable for during the current situation, but the league is reportedly allowing a little bit of traveling for the players. As per Shams Charania of Atheltic and Adrian Wojnarowski, that the NBA will allow players to leave their team’s markets and travel to their home cities.
The NBA has informed its 30 teams that, effective Monday, players are able to travel out of market with consultation from their respective teams, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 16, 2020
Charania also cited some rules that the league has imposed which players have to abide by in his tweet;
“Players who travel out of the team’s market during NBA season hiatus must: Provide whereabouts; remain home, do social distancing. Team permitted to pay for certain travel.”“Teams also encouraged to establish daily health/basketball check-ins (such as via FaceTime, Skype).”
Sources: Players who travel out of team's market during NBA season hiatus must: Provide whereabouts; remain home, do social distancing. Team permitted to pay for certain travel.
Teams also encouraged to establish daily health/basketball check-ins (such as via FaceTime, Skype). https://t.co/9uoboDoJ8L
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 16, 2020
During an appearance on TNT’s Inside the NBA on Thursday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver affirmed he’s anticipating that the league shall resume after the suspension period of 30 days after constraining the spread of COVID-19.
In fact, on Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has also issued a statement saying that any public event of more than 50 people shall not take place. This has put the NBA in jeopardy as Multiple NBA team owners and executives had initially hoped that season would resume in one month but according to Adrian Wojnarowski, the earliest play would resume now is in the middle or late of June.
However, the organizers came up with one such strategy of conducting the games without any fans in the arenas and in that scenario, the playoffs would extend into August, and teams would potentially play in smaller venues since the overall attendance would be minimal.
