Travel dates to Orlando are set for the OKC Thunder and all participants of season resumption
The OKC Thunder continues to prepare for the resumption of the season with an uptick in action this week. All teams began testing for COVID-19 on Monday, June 23rd, and will test every other day through to when the teams leave for Orlando when tests will occur daily.
The dates teams will travel to Orlando are set as per Shams Charania of the paid-for subscription The Athletic. OKC is in the second travel group heading to Orlando.
All teams will be ensconced in a campus-style bubble environment in Walt Disney World. The section of the resort the NBA will be housed in is the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex.
OKC Thunder travel dates for Orlando:
The specific dates for travel and teams assigned per date are:
July 7th: Brooklyn Nets, Orlando Magic, Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards
July 8th: Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks, LA Clippers, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, New Orleans Pelicans, OKC Thunder and Sacramento Kings
July 9th: Houston Rockets, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio Spurs and Toronto Raptors
The one oddity within this group is the Raptors arriving on the last day given they (like the Heat and Magic) are already in Florida. This because the state is experiencing a spike in positive cases and is now one of the three main hot spots (Texas, Arizona) in the U.S.
The Raptors are staying in Naples working out at Florida Golf Coast University which is located in the Southwest portion of the state. As noted in our recent article, the Southeast portion of the state is the hardest hit but cases continue to rise throughout Florida. To wit, although the Florida cases dropped to 2,926 on Monday the number ballooned to 5,511 on Tuesday.