48 NBA Players Test Positive to COVID-19: The Implications

We're just a few weeks away from the opening night of the 2020-2021 National Basketball Association (NBA) regular season and yet, the future still looks clouded considering that we're still living at a time when the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic is still raving the world. While the Orlando bubble to finish the 2019-2020 season reported no positive test results throughout the league's stay inside Mickey Mouse's house, a total of 48 players have tested positive for COVID-19 in the initial testing for the new season.

48 out of the 546 players that were tested upon their return to their respective club markets. That's an 8.79% positive rate. 

Of course, this development will have implications not just for the NBA but also for US sports in general.

If we are to look at the 134-page handbook that details the new health and safety protocols for the new season, it states that any player who tests positive or asymptomatic will not be allowed to do workouts for 10 days. After that, that player will be given two days to spend on individual workouts. That player will also need to pass cardiac screening before resuming being permitted to join team activities. 

All in all, a player will miss 12 days worth of team activities if he tests positive for COVID-19.  That's where the first implication enters. Any time a player tests positive for the disease, it affects the team because they will temporarily lose one player for a maximum of 12 days, and when you're playing during a compressed 72-game regular season, an absence of a player that long is big and it could hurt a team's chances of making the playoffs. 

Another implication that this unfortunate development could bring about is the possibility of a delay. Right now, the league is stated to open the new season on December 22 (December 23 Manila time). However, with the number of COVID-19 cases in the United States still soaring, even this writer won't be surprised if the NBA decides to move the opening of the new season to early 2021. And even if it does start on schedule, postponement of NBA games is almost inevitable considering the fact that NBA games are played in different cities. It's going to be a big, painful headache for NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and company.

There's also the question with regards to how games will be played. Unlike inside the Orlando bubble where 22 teams were together in one big venue, it's impossible to do that with all 30 NBA teams. What we know right now is that games will be played without fans. What we don't know is how the NBA will implement the home-and-away formats considering the restrictions in travel. Will teams have their own min-bubbles? Will players be allowed to go home to their families every now and then? There are a lot of questions that needed to be answered and a lot of implications that are needed to be looked at. 

Photo is from CBS Sports