The NBA is already preparing for the return of the competition. But 'get ready' doesn't mean the league is about to start. Not much less.

Commissioner Adam Silver held a meeting this weekend with the representatives of the players to explain how and when the return to normality will begin in the best basketball league in the world. All this being clear that the situation depends exclusively on the evolution of the Covid-19 epidemic , which has killed tens of thousands of people in the United States.

On Friday, the Portland Trail-Blazers and Cleveland Cavaliers opened their facilities so that their squad could once again feel what it was like to pitch. "It is strange," said Kevin Love , star of the Ohio franchise, who has been able to train because the situation in the state is better than in others and public officials have authorized its operation. Not so in others where there are also league teams.

For this reason, because in such a long country it is impossible to experience the same situation towards the epidemic in the West as in the East, in the North as in the South, Adam Silver is considering playing in Las Vegas and / or Florida during the first weeks of that long-awaited return to competition. Midwest and Pacific Rim teams would play the game city, while the Celtics, Bulls, Knicks, Heat, Sixers and company would do so in Orlando, with Disney offering their Disneyworld facilities, for example.

In no rush to return

But that process is not easy. Beyond the circumstances of the pandemic itself, its evolution, the number of infections and the number of deaths per state, we must take into account the specific cases of the players. And many are in no rush to return, especially veterans. According to information from ' ESPN ', this was one of the central themes of the conversation between Silver and the players: their fears and the security measures they are going to take.

Several franchises have already announced that they will carry out massive tests on their staff and members of their organization, but the question goes further: " Many guys think it is not safe, " a player from one team tells ESPN, explaining that there are many players. who have moved to their home state. Or even to his country of birth , as is the case of Luka Doncic.

Flying despite restrictions

The former Real Madrid player traveled to Slovenia on a private plane in early April, after Rudy Gobert's positive test and the NBA's decision to stop the competition, and he is still there. Despite air restrictions in the United States, the Mavericks, with millionaire owner Mark Cuban at the helm, could get their star back as soon as they want, but in the words of one agent to ESPN: " The players they will only return to the country when they see that the league is really close to returning . "

And it is that in case of returning, Doncic, who will have to dispute those supposed 'Express Playoffs' with Dallas, or any European who is currently in his country would have to spend at least two weeks of quarantine within the United States before being able to return to train . One more piece of the eternal puzzle that the NBA has to perform to achieve, within a reasonable time, the resumption of this season.

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