High on the list of sacrifices in the NBA bubble, most players put family time right at the top.
Many struggled with the isolation from their wives, children and other loved ones during the three-month run at Disney World. Even though guests were permitted midway through, some players – such as LeBron James and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope – made the difficult decision to leave their kids at home in more familiar environments rather than dragging them out to quarantine in Orlando, Fla.
Gearing up for a slightly more conventional season, where the Lakers will travel but also get to be home, that family time will be restored. But as the season ratchets back up, they’re also starting to realize how risky that trade-off can be.
“A lot of people have kids; we don’t want your kids to get it,” forward Anthony Davis said. “We have a veteran group – so I think our guys know what’s at stake outside of basketball.”
As the NBA regular season starts on Dec. 22, much of the attention has been centered on how the COVID-19 pandemic will threaten players and teams. An NBA memo has outlined that players and staff who test positive for coronavirus will be out for a minimum of 12 days, which can potentially wreak havoc for the league and its slightly reduced 72-game schedule if enough people are sidelined. The initial NBPA report of 48 positive tests in 546 cases and several team facilities shutting down in the last week because of testing concerns are warning signs of how much the pandemic stands to influence the season.
But games can be rescheduled, and many players don’t live alone. The Lakers’ roster isn’t as old as it was last season, but many players and coaches have families. The NBA memo doesn’t just apply to those in the league, but also those in their households, creating an added level of stress to keep safe.
One of the rules that has been widely discussed in the locker room, Caldwell-Pope said, is that if players’ or coaches’ children are playing sports, their fathers won’t be able to attend.
“That’s going to be hard for guys who like supporting their kids in basketball and anything else that they do outside of their home,” he said. “And then having a conversation with your wife about her friends, that’s more stress. It’s a lot.”
Many people around the country, of course, have been having similar conversations, whether due to state and local ordinances or self-imposed as the pandemic threat has become more widespread. But after a season in the bubble, players and staff had the luxury of not worrying about that level of risk: No one living on campus tested positive once they got through quarantine.
Davis said he’s started to appreciate that safe haven more as time has gone on. When the Lakers travel to Phoenix next week for a pair of preseason games (the team’s first true road games since March), it will carry an unnerving sense of caution.
“We didn’t have to worry about COVID as much because of all the protocols and the health situation that they had set up for us,” he said. “So that’s one thing I do miss. Because you never know with the travel, and staying in a hotel, you just don’t know if they’re doing everything that they’re supposed to do to keep everything protected and healthy and sanitized.”
NBA guidelines will allow players to do some league-approved road activities, such as outdoor dining or fully privatized restaurants. It won’t be as free-wheeling as typical road trips which can run the gamut of clubs and fine dining.
Several seem to be ready to do what much of the world is already doing: Stay inside.
“The more time we can just spend at home and here the better, and minimize the other things that you have to do, obviously people are still in your lives,” Coach Frank Vogel said. “But we try to stay as safe as possible and I think that applies to the families as well. I know my wife and my daughters are mindful of minimizing the situation they put themselves in and trying to be as risk-free as possible. They don’t want to put me in position to miss games.”
Missing games might be the lowest stakes. After a recent outbreak among the Baltimore Ravens that led to a widespread shutdown of the NFL team’s operations, Robert Griffin III pointed out that family members had also been diagnosed with COVID-19, an unreported cost of the spread. Last week, Minnesota Timberwolves forward Karl-Anthony Towns told the media that seven members of his family have died from COVID-19, including his mother, Jacqueline Towns.“I feel like I’ve been hardened a little bit by life and humbled,” he told the Minnesota press.
Those grim reminders underscore how serious the challenge of playing basketball through the crisis will be. If it wasn’t clear enough to players and staff to follow the suggested guidelines in the bubble, the stakes seem to be settling in now without the extra barrier of protection.
“We listen to the experts and what’s going on with the climate as far as COVID,” James said. “And keep your family in a mask when we leave the house or whatever the case may be. And be cautious where we travel to, be cautious who we are around. Right now you just try to do everything that you can to try to protect your family. And hopefully, you can stay safe and stay healthy.”
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