NBA bans players and coaches from bars, nightclubs, casinos, and even restaurants in new COVID-19 protocols for the upcoming season - and teams could lose draft picks for violations
NBA players patronizing bars, nightclubs, casinos, or even restaurants during the upcoming 2020-21 season may end up costing their team fines, forfeits, or even draft picks.
Tier 1 and Tier 2 personnel — players, coaches and some essential staff — must avoid bars, lounges, clubs even if food is served, most live entertainment or gaming venues, public gyms, spas and pool areas.
Also off-limits: indoor gatherings of 15 or more people. Those rules apply both when teams are at home and when they are on the road, the NBA said. Preseason games start Friday and the regular season begins December 22.
Eric Moreland, Jordan Loyd, Pascal Siakam and Jodie Meeks of the Toronto Raptors celebrate their NBA championship at XS Nightclub at Wynn Las Vegas on June 14, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. NBA players will be banned from attending clubs like this during the 2020-21 season
Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors celebrates winning the NBA Championship at Jewel Nightclub at the Aria Resort & Casino on June 17, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada
a bubble at Disney World in Florida from July until October. No new infections were reported inside the bubble during that time. Now, 29 teams will be playing in their home arenas, albeit largely without fans, while the Toronto Raptors will begin their 2020-21 campaign in Tampa due to the Canadian government's travel restrictions
Teams were informed about the rigorous COVID-19 protocols over the weekend. ESPN was the first to report the announcement.
The NBA finished its pandemic-interrupted 2019-20 season by moving 22 teams into a bubble at Disney World in Florida from July until October. No new infections were reported inside the bubble during that time.
Now, 29 teams will be playing in their home arenas, albeit largely without fans, while the Toronto Raptors will begin their 2020-21 campaign in Tampa due to the Canadian government's travel restrictions.
The league made clear in the final protocols that if teams don't take the health and safety rules seriously, a serious price will be paid.
As written in the new rules: 'Protocol violations that result in COVID-19 spread that requires adjustments to the NBA game schedule or otherwise impacts any other team may subject the violating team to additional penalties, which may include fines, suspensions, adjustment or loss of draft choices, and/or game forfeiture.'
Commissioner Adam Silver is ramping up the league's COVID-19 protocols as teams move from the league's bubble in Disney World to their home arenas and practice facilities
The NBA also outlined its plan for administering the vaccine when it becomes available. The league and players' union plan to discuss the possibility of requiring players, coaches, and staff to take the vaccine when the FDA deems it to be safe and effective. There could be a need to create additional protocols for those who do not receive the vaccine, such as more testing or travel restrictions.
Teams are also being asked to encourage players and personnel to get flu shots.
The protocols document, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, has much more detail than the draft version that was distributed to teams earlier this month. The rules and protocols in the updated document — which even includes examples of how seating charts on planes and buses could be set up — have been agreed upon by the NBA and the NBPA.
'The biggest thing is obviously, from what we've been told, is the testing on the daily,' Philadelphia forward Tobias Harris said earlier in the week as the protocols were being finalized. 'And guys holding each other accountable to be safe and limit exposure from outside people or whatever.
'For me, it's a bit confusing because you never know. You could go into a grocery store and you may get the virus somehow, right? So, I think it's a fine line, but I think we have to do our best to follow protocol, keep each other safe, keep the team safe and just see how it plays out.'
The NBA had success keeping the pandemic at bay during inside the Disney World bubble
Starting Sunday, the testing program — players and coaches will be checked daily, and 48 players were found to be positive before training camps even began — will begin to include immediate families, if they so desire.
Teams have been told by the NBA to work with BioReference, the league's testing provider, to make voluntary PCR testing available for all household members of Tier 1 and Tier 2 individuals twice a week. The household members of those Tier 1 and Tier 2 individuals are also being urged to get flu shots.
'We're just trying to follow the guidelines, do it as best we can,' Golden State coach Steve Kerr said earlier in the week. 'It's not easy, but everybody's got to go through it. We're just trying to navigate our way through it.'
The NFL has fined teams and coaches for not wearing masks and following protocols; just in the last week, the New England Patriots were fined $350,000 for violations and the New Orleans Saints were fined $500,000 plus had a seventh-round pick taken away following a locker room celebration in which they were not wearing masks.
One key addition to the final version of the NBA protocols: Teams, when they go on the road, will have some freedoms and will not be forced to stay in their hotels when not practicing or playing.
The league and the union will work with teams to identify at least three eateries in all markets that will be designated as 'approved restaurants' for meals on the road. That doesn't necessarily mean people will be limited; members of traveling parties will be allowed by the league to 'go to any restaurant on the road, so long as the restaurant complies with all state and local laws or regulations related to COVID-19' — though teams could also institute their own restrictions if they deem it necessary.
'I'm not the CDC. I'm not a doctor,' Harris said. 'But I'm going to wear my mask and follow my protocol and do what I'm kind of told at this point, and then hopefully we have a full season.'
Players and coaches were distanced on the bench for the last few months of the season