NBA announces Disney bubble COVID-19 free for fifth week running
The OKC Thunder will play their second game today amid the news the NBA bubble remains healthy and intact.
As the OKC Thunder takes to the court Thursday afternoon hoping to draw even in their first-round series versus the Houston Rockets they do so on the heels of great news from the NBA. The association announced for the fifth consecutive week there are zero positive COVID-19 tests.
Back in March and throughout the next four-plus months there were moments it felt like the NBA season would never resume let alone arrive at the playoffs. Yet, here we are in the midst of the playoffs having begun the first-round this week. These tests encompassed results from August 12th through to the start of this week with 341 players all testing negative.
Moving forward there are now fewer players with the Washington Wizards, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, and Memphis Grizzlies team plus their staff have left the bubble.
There have been players who left the bubble due to personal reasons. Some of those have been health-related such as the Indiana Pacers Domantas Sabonis who is seeking treatment of his plantar fasciitis. Several players exited the bubble due to family members ailing and sadly some for funerals of loved ones.
Fifth week bubble COVID-19 free:
OKC Thunder sixth man Dennis Schroder and Jazz guard Mike Conley both left and returned to the bubble after attending the birth of their babies.
These types of exits and returns is something the NBA has handled extremely well making sure to have the individuals test daily and quarantine upon return.
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Moving forward, a large sub-group of players will depart at month’s end. Half in fact as August 30th is the date one side of the televised brackets would play a Game 7 if necessary.
Therefore on August 31st at the lastest eight teams plus their staff would depart the bubble.
Although the number of players would be closer to 170 at this point additional parties would arrive since after the first-round the intent is to allow player’s families and/or close friends join the bubble.
Undoubtedly, this would be a major perk for those missing their loved ones.
Ultimately, the bubble experiment is working and seems to be functioning at the level the association had hoped it would. For now, it’s wonderful that the results are so positive and that players can ease their minds the bubble experiment is working.
NBA announces Disney bubble COVID-19 free for the fifth week running
Make sure to catch Game 2 of OKC Thunder versus Houston Rockets at 2:30 p.m. CT and check back for our grades and takeaways. Game 1 grades and takeaways are available by clicking on the associated links.