NBA players in "their bubble" at Mickey before the resumption of the season

The NBA season ended on March 11 following the announcement of French player Rudy Gobert's Covid-19 test. More than four months after this shutdown, it will resume on July 30 with a match between the Utah Jazz, the tricolor pivot team, and the Pelicans of New Orleans.

As the virus continues to spread in the United States, the North American basketball league has gone to great lengths to financially save its championship without endangering its stars. Since the beginning of July, players from 22 clubs have arrived in Florida to participate in an ultra-secure training camp before playing the rest of the season behind closed doors. They settled at Disney World, in the city of Orlando: a real "bubble" supposed to protect them from the Covid-19 and whose bill rises to 150 million dollars.

Strict regulations and controls

Upon arrival, each player was screened in a specially designed quarantine area, even as Florida has become one of the main sources of coronavirus in the country. They were then re-tested 24 hours later to be allowed to enter the hotel restaurants. They must also wear a ring allowing to know their state of health in real time with taking of the pulse, temperature, respiratory rate and calculation of activity and sleep. This technology is supposed to determine the probability of developing Covid-19 before you even have any symptoms.

Belinelli shows off the ID bracelets players will wear on the resort out in Disney, FL. #nba #gospursgo #nbatwitter pic.twitter.com/VaiAgZwKDN

A regulation of a hundred pages was thus drawn up, and woe to those who do not respect it. According to the ESPN sports channel, Bruno Caboclo of the Houston Rockets left his room without authorization and had an additional eight days of quarantine before being able to return to training. Interior of the Sacramento Kings Richaun Holmes also had to apologize on his Twitter account for going out of bounds to recover a delivery of food.

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Despite these very strict measures, this "bubble" did not attract the support of all players. "I don't like the idea, I still don't trust it," said Joel Embiid, star of the Philadelphia 76ers. The Cameroonian center even considered not playing, but he finally chose not to drop his teammates in their quest for an NBA title.

Joel Embiid on concerns going into Orlando:

“I'm not a big fan of the idea. But then again, I'm going to do my job. I'm not going to let the city down. I'm going to represent my city, my family, my teammates - that's what I've always done. ” #Sixershttps: //t.co/v7pIJGfGIH pic.twitter.com/1OcTptsRJe

Meanwhile, Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo said he was ready to hit the floor, even though he explained that it was quite a challenge given the context: "You are going somewhere without your family for three, four months, and you haven't played basketball for three and a half, four months, "he said. The title will therefore go "to the one who wants it the most, who is the best mentally prepared for all this, what is happening in Orlando", according to the Greek player, who participates in the very good season of the Bucks, winning team the most matches in the regular season. Leading the Eastern conference (the American clubs are divided into two large zones called East and West) just before the break linked to the coronavirus, with a record of 53 victories for only 12 defeats, the Milwaukee team is among the favorites to reach the title.

French player Evan Fournier also agreed with the general opinion and found his Orlando Magic teammates. As he told AFP, the French international believes, however, that the winner of the season will benefit from a coronation at a discount: "Things are a bit distorted. Ultimately, for future champions, this n "is not fair. They will have disassembled themselves to win and they will be less respected than a true champion after a full season. So, of course, this team will be a very good team, but they will not have had the normal course which leads to an NBA title. "

Arrived on July 7 in the grounds of Disney World, Evan Fournier makes his subscribers on Twitter live his daily life in the bubble. After recognizing that the food was better than he had imagined, he explained that this training camp reminded him of his preparations with the French team, before telling with humor that there was in his hotel as a swimming pool for six teams.

In our hotel there are 6 teams for a swimming pool. It is a sausage part the brothel.

A resumption of sport amid racial contestation

Many basketball players are also concerned about the political situation in the United States and the Black Lives Matter movement. After weeks of demonstration in response to the death of Georges Floyd, an African-American who died during his arrest by the police, several players want to continue the mobilization. The pivot of the Lakers Dwight Howard even hesitated for a time to resume the path of the prosecution for fear of moving away from the fight against police violence. "Yes, I'm going to join my team in Orlando. But besides that, we will do great things," said the 34-year-old who decided to donate his entire salary for the recovery, about 700,000 dollars, to his association Breathe Again for social justice. "I have to. I have a contractual commitment to the Lakers, my teammates and the fans. However, I also have a commitment to my family and my community," added superstar teammate Lebron James.

Some of his comrades will wear messages on the back of their jerseys when the NBA resumes, as the league has authorized them among thirty slogans, such as "I Can't Breathe" ("I can't breathe") ), Justice, Peace, Equality, Freedom or Anti-Racist.

#BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/ELiopQMx7k

But several players have expressed frustration about this list, such as LeBron James, who hinted that he would have liked to have a say in these messages and chose to keep his name on his jersey, or Evan Fournier, who criticized the listing, but chose to wear the word "Justice".

The NBA Players' Association (NBPA) will partner with player clothing brand Russell Westbrook to design t-shirts with messages of social justice, some of which have not been approved by the league for recovery, Sunday media reported The Athletic.

A few players are missing when approaching this return to competition. Eric Bledsoe, the leader of the Milwaukee Bucks, announced Friday that he could not join his team in the "Orlando bubble" because he contracted the coronavirus. "I am asymptomatic and I feel good," said the 30-year-old. "When I'm in order with the NBA protocols, I'm looking forward to joining my teammates in Orlando," added Bledsoe. Before him, other NBA players have also tested positive, including Russel Westbrook (Houston), Kevin Durant (Brooklyn), Marcus Smart (Boston) or Harrison Barnes (Sacramento).

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NBA boss Adam Silver said in an interview with Time that the season would be halted if there were more cases of coronavirus in Orlando, while ensuring that catching up in the Disney World "bubble" was still the case. 'safest' option.

A revisited calendar

If all goes well, from July 30, the calendar provides for up to seven matches per day, with kicks off between 12 p.m. and 9 p.m. on three different fields. Twenty-two teams are concerned by this end of the championship: the first eight of each conference (Milwaukee, Toronto, Boston, Miami, Indiana, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Orlando to the East; Lakers, Clippers, Denver, Utah, Oklahoma City, Houston, Dallas, Memphis to the West) add six clubs within six games of 8th place in each conference (New Orleans, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, San Antonio to the West, and Washington to the East).

Each team will play eight regular season games. After which, the play-off table will be almost known, since the first seven of each conference will be directly qualified. The 8th and last sesame will be, in the East as in the West, the object of a possible barrage. The play-offs will then take place in a classic way at the best of the seven games, for a final crowning on October 13 at the latest.

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