The N.B.A. will formally present a return-to-play plan to its team owners on Thursday that calls for 22 of its 30 teams to resume the 2019-20 season at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida in late July, according to several people familiar with the league’s intentions.
The single-site, 22-team format requires the voting support of at least 23 owners but is expected to be approved comfortably during a conference call scheduled for Thursday at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the details of the proposal.
Subsequent approval from the National Basketball Players Association will also be required to enact the plan, but the league’s commissioner, Adam Silver, has been working on it for weeks with Oklahoma City’s Chris Paul, the union president, and Robert A. Iger, Disney’s executive chairman. ESPN, one of the N.B.A.’s two main media partners — the other is Turner Sports — is owned by Disney.
The N.B.A. moved last week toward a 22-team format featuring the 16 teams that were in each conference’s playoff positions and the six teams that were within six games of a playoff spot when the league abruptly suspended play on March 11 because of the coronavirus pandemic. The players will be asked to live and play at the complex.
Of the six teams that were outside the top eight in their conferences, five are from the West: Portland, New Orleans, Sacramento, San Antonio and Phoenix. The Washington Wizards are the only Eastern Conference team that was within six games of a playoff spot when the season was suspended.
There would be 88 regular-season games in Orlando under this plan — eight for each of the 22 teams — with all of them played with no fans in attendance. ESPN reported Wednesday that the N.B.A. would add a play-in round for the East and West if the No. 9 seed in each conference finished within four games of the No. 8 seed after the 88 games were completed. Such a play-in would require the ninth seed in each conference to beat the eighth seed twice in a row to wrest the final playoff spot away.
The season would then continue with its typical structure: four best-of-seven playoff rounds based on 1 to 8 seeding in the East and West, with league officials determined to make the postseason as legitimate as possible. ESPN reported Tuesday that the tentative dates for the rest of the season, through the last likely date for a Game 7 in the N.B.A. finals, would be July 31 to Oct. 12.
The N.B.A. was the first major North American sports league to shut down in response to the virus outbreak, but questions remain about the safety protocols the league would implement in what it has labeled a campus environment.
The mode and frequency of a virus testing program, potential quarantine measures when teams first arrive in Florida, how the league will handle players or team staff members who test positive for the virus and the various boundaries on the Disney World site beyond the two hotels expected to house the teams are among the details still being negotiated between the N.B.A. and the players’ union.
The N.B.A. gradually moved away from the idea of bringing all 30 teams to Florida because of safety concerns, in a nod to the public health experts who have warned that basketball is susceptible to spreading the virus as a full-contact indoor sport. But it settled on 22 teams — rather than the 16 teams in playoff positions — in part for the financial benefits from staging regular-season games rather than jumping straight into the playoffs.
Some team officials and players lobbied for the need to be able to play through the rust before the playoffs, as well as to learn how to best manage injury risks and to improve what is bound to be raggedy play, after a layoff far longer than is customary for the modern player. In addition, the 88 regular-season games will give marketable stars like Portland’s Damian Lillard and the New Orleans rookie Zion Williamson one last opportunity to play for a postseason berth — while also enabling some teams to meet their contractual obligations with regional television networks and potentially mitigate significant losses of revenue.
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Updated June 2, 2020
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Will protests set off a second viral wave of coronavirus?
Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission.
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How do we start exercising again without hurting ourselves after months of lockdown?
Exercise researchers and physicians have some blunt advice for those of us aiming to return to regular exercise now: Start slowly and then rev up your workouts, also slowly. American adults tended to be about 12 percent less active after the stay-at-home mandates began in March than they were in January. But there are steps you can take to ease your way back into regular exercise safely. First, “start at no more than 50 percent of the exercise you were doing before Covid,” says Dr. Monica Rho, the chief of musculoskeletal medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Thread in some preparatory squats, too, she advises. “When you haven’t been exercising, you lose muscle mass.” Expect some muscle twinges after these preliminary, post-lockdown sessions, especially a day or two later. But sudden or increasing pain during exercise is a clarion call to stop and return home.
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My state is reopening. Is it safe to go out?
States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you aren’t being told to stay at home, it’s still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.
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What’s the risk of catching coronavirus from a surface?
Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus — whether it’s surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.
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What are the symptoms of coronavirus?
Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.
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How can I protect myself while flying?
If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)
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How many people have lost their jobs due to coronavirus in the U.S.?
More than 40 million people — the equivalent of 1 in 4 U.S. workers — have filed for unemployment benefits since the pandemic took hold. One in five who were working in February reported losing a job or being furloughed in March or the beginning of April, data from a Federal Reserve survey released on May 14 showed, and that pain was highly concentrated among low earners. Fully 39 percent of former workers living in a household earning $40,000 or less lost work, compared with 13 percent in those making more than $100,000, a Fed official said.
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Should I wear a mask?
The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’t replace hand washing and social distancing.
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What should I do if I feel sick?
If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.
Teams are still awaiting guidance from the league on how the schedule will be made for each club’s eight regular-season games — with complaints almost guaranteed since there is no way to make schedules balanced.
A firm date for teams to report to the Orlando area has also not yet been announced, but it is expected that teams will soon begin recalling their out-of-town players and ramping up training in their own practice facilities before heading to Disney World, which features multiple arenas as part of the 220-acre ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
The New York Times reported last month that teams were told they would have to limit traveling parties to the most essential staff members: Each team will likely be allowed to take roughly 35 people, including players. Teams routinely had traveling parties exceeding 50 people before the coronavirus outbreak.
If the N.B.A. can successfully complete the 2019-20 season under this structure, it is expected that the 2020 N.B.A. draft would be moved to October, with free agency to follow shortly thereafter and a tentative plan to establish Dec. 25 as opening day for the 2020-21 season.
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