NBA allowing players to travel out of market during coronavirus break
The NBA has sent a memo to its teams informing them that players, effective Monday, are allowed to travel out of market during the league’s indefinite break, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
The decision comes just days removed from the league reportedly saying that players must remain in the market of their team.
Additionally, the league has extended its ban on team practices, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, though players will still be able to work out at team facilities individually. Bontemps also reports that the league has recommend temperature checks on everyone entering team facilities.
News of players now being allowed to travel comes shortly after ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that NBA owners and executives have discussed a possible best-case scenario for teams to return to play by mid-to-late June, likely with no fans at games.
That could cause the season to continue through the end of August.
The potentially three-month NBA delay follows a Center for Disease Control recommendation that for the next eight weeks, any in-person events consisting of 50 or more people should be canceled or postponed.
On Wednesday night, the NBA suspended its season “until further notice” following the positive test of Jazz center Rudy Gobert. The decision to suspend play indefinitely was the first of many from the major American sports leagues.
On Thursday, numerous other leagues postponed their seasons or suspended their operations. The 2020 men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments were also canceled on Thursday.
The NBA G League was suspended, but it is expected to cancel the rest of its season, per ESPN.
As of Sunday night, there are more than 167,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide, causing more than 6,300 deaths. The United States has more than 3,400 confirmed cases and 66 deaths.