The NBA intends to resume its season in Orlando on July 30, featuring 22 of the 30 teams. Well, the eight teams left out of Orlando — the “Delete Eight” — will reportedly host their own bubble.
ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan reports that the NBA is closed to signing off on a bubble hosted in Chicago for these eight teams, which will allow them “to participate in a mini-training camp and subsequent games against other clubs with a target date of September.”
Those teams are the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, and New York Knicks.
MacMullan says that the league has discussed the Chicago bubble having around two weeks of practice, and four games for each team, with participation being voluntary.
The NBA has discussed setting up the bubble in Chicago with approximately two weeks of practice, then four games for each team. Participation in the bubble would be completely voluntary, sources said.
But the specific format is a secondary matter for these eight teams, as one NBA general manager told ESPN.
“How they frame it is almost irrelevant to us,” one general manager told ESPN. “It’s more a chance to get our young guys out there working with some game simulation.”
With these eight teams having their seasons end in March, they would have a nine-month break in between games; the 2020-21 NBA season has a start date of December 1. So, these teams would understandably like to be able to have camps and some level of organized competition, while the other 22 teams get to keep playing games in the coming weeks. Rest can be a good thing, but too much rest and time away from the basketball court could serve as a competitive disadvantage to these teams, and especially with so much youth — in need of development and team chemistry — involved with these squads.
K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago reports that the Players Association would still need to approve this plan, and Wintrust Arena — home of DePaul basketball and the WNBA’s Chicago Sky — is an arena under consideration for the bubble. The arena is connected to a hotel, which could make it a convenient location amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Per source, Wintrust Arena is one arena under consideration. It’s connected to a hotel. https://t.co/3vpB7u2S52
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) July 2, 2020
Regarding the potential second bubble in Chicago, this scenario would need to be agreed to by the players association. Work remains on that front, I’m told. If hurdles get cleared, Wintrust Arena makes sense from logistical standpoint because it’s connected to a hotel.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) July 2, 2020
And it goes without saying that, with the COVID-19 pandemic, any plan could quickly be derailed. That includes the NBA season in Orlando.
But for now, it makes sense to set up a plan that will allow the eight teams left out of Orlando to have some organized basketball competition ahead of the 2020-21 season camps.
