NBA players instructed to invite guests to bubble they have ‘significant’ relationships with
The NBA bubble will soon include guests but players will need to choose carefully
Now that the NBA bubble has established itself as a place of safety for the players and staffers, the players will soon get the chance to add family and friends to their lockdown in Orlando.
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According to ESPN, the NBA and the NBPA have agreed to allow four people per player into the NBA encampment at Orlando’s Wide World of Sports Complex where they’ve been sequestered since the NBA restart on July 30.
Twenty-two teams traveled to the bubble but that number will be diminished once playoffs begin on August 17. At that point, players will be able to embrace family, friends and significant others that they’ve likely only seen on Facetime screens for over a month.
However, the choice of people that NBA players can invite is limited to family and those they have ”an established pre-existing, personal and known relationship” with. The memo specified that there could be no invites made to those that players know “only through social media or an intermediary.”
They are also prohibited from inviting anyone with whom they have a business relationship with including agents, lawyers, trainers, and tattoo artists, according to ESPN.
Guests will be required to quarantine until at least August 31 and players will only have one playoff ticket per guest to give out. The four people ticket limit will be expanded for player’s children, according to the memo. Although a visit to Disney World nearby would seem to make sense, that trip is prohibited for NBA guests to keep the bubble intact.
As of Wednesday, 342 players tested for the coronavirus and zero have tested positive.
Although the rules appear to be geared towards discouraging players to bring in women they have “casual” relationships with, this is what the players themselves agreed on. The reasoning is that the bubble thus far has operated in what ESPN describes as a “collegial” environment and that everyone wants that energy to remain.
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“I can’t wait,” Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma told media on Wednesday.
“Obviously, this is a great experience. They’ve done an unbelievable job of really supervising and managing just how the bubble works, the ins and outs. They’ve done a great job, but at the same time, we’re all human and we all have our whole families and loved ones that we want to see and be around. It’s good news.”
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