The OKC Thunder won’t be among the first teams to rush back to the practice facility as they keep to their typical cautious approach in major decisions.
Today marked the first day the National Basketball Association earmarked as the date teams could re-open their practice facilities. Two teams did open with others reporting they’ll open next week, however, the OKC Thunder isn’t expected to make that move for at least a week or two.
At the Sam Presti video session with the media last week Brady Trantham specifically asked the GM what the OKC Thunder time plan was for opening up.
As per his tweet (below), Trantham provided Presti’s full answer. The most notable part of Presti’s answer was the franchise would be at least a week away from today’s date. Nor is it surprising the Thunder would take the more cautious approach despite the State and OKC being among the regions who have loosened the stay at home restrictions.
The Thunder did not open up their practice facility today, a spokesman of the team tells me.
— Brady Trantham (@BradyDoesSports) May 8, 2020
Last week Sam Presti had this to say about the May 8th target date: pic.twitter.com/uI70Iy1NLx
That said of the teams who opened today or have reported intentions to open next week the Blazers, Raptors, and Nuggets are teams who also tend to exercise greater caution in important decisions.
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Since I live in Toronto, I can report that the Province is set to loosen restrictions in the first of an expected three-tier approach so it’s not surprising the Raptors have joined the mix.
The two teams who were the first to open their doors are today (Friday, May 8th) are the Portland Trail Blazers and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Five other teams have reported their intentions to open up with four next week and one the following week.
They include:
Monday, May 11: Toronto Raptors, Sacramento Kings, and Denver Nuggets opening their practice facilities on Monday. These teams were later additions and only recently began to lighten up restrictions in their province and State
Tuesday, May 12: Orlando Magic
Monday, May 18: Houston Rockets
These reports are being released intermittently so it wouldn’t be surprising if several teams join the mix over the weekend to announce their intended date of opening.
In addition, Adam Silver and Michelle Roberts are holding a conference call with players today so that may also affect decisions.