The NBA was the leader in shutting down operations when the coronavirus pandemic started sweeping through the United States, and now the league will be one of the first to return to some form of normalcy this week. A report by the Associated Press stated that the NBA will allow teams in states that don’t have “stay at home” orders to reopen their practice facilities starting Friday.
The move is the first return to operations among the major American sports leagues that shut down last month due to the coronavirus. The workouts will be voluntary, so no players will be forced to return to training without their consent. Additionally, all workouts will be individual, so as to help curb some of the risk of spreading the virus.
Since going on hiatus on March 11, the NBA has seemingly been weighing its options while hosting a variety of events from home; there was an NBA 2K tournament with some star players involved, while the league also put on a H.O.R.S.E. tournament, with players streaming from their houses.
According to the AP’s source, the move to allow practices does not mean that there is a date set for the return of games, however. Given that the majority of states are still heeding health official advice to remain in lockdown, it would still seem as if the NBA is far away from returning to the court full-time. Commissioner Adam Silver previously said that the league does not expect to make a decision on whether it will even be possible to finish the season until some time in May, at the earliest.
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Read the full story at Associated Press
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