You could certainly say that the NBA is working as intended. The league’s COVID-19 security measures – known euphemistically as its health and safety protocols – wreaked havoc on multiple teams in the first half of January. The Sixers played a game with only seven healthy bodies. Four games were postponed in a three-day period. The Mavericks had four players who tested positive for the coronavirus, and their practice facility was subsequently closed. The Wizards canceled training on Jan. 12 due to COVID-19-related reasons – after the Heat, the 76ers and Celtics had all players enter protocol after games against Washington in the previous week. The abbreviated rosters are a feature – not a bug – when it comes to the 2020–21 season. Playing through a pandemic requires the league to be extra diligent to prevent a massive outbreak, so even people who have only been exposed to someone else with the virus isolate themselves. It’s an obvious practice that, even when frustrating, tries to minimize the risk so that games can get stuck in it.
I’ve written before about the fickle nature of this season, how difficult it was to separate what was real from what was the result of complex factors. That was before teams like the Heat and Sixers had to play games with thinned rosters due to COVID-19. As the NBA trudges through a deadly period in US history, the following has become reality: The product is no longer the priority.
It’s tempting to scrutinize the NBA’s guidelines for tracking contacts – a post-game conversation outweighs the previous 48 minutes? Players were allowed to have guests in their hotel room? – but those rules were drawn up in collaboration with doctors and scientists to figure out how far the competition could stand on the ledge without falling over. It’s also tempting to come up with the ‘easy’ solution to make this season safe. Perhaps, apart from a long-lasting bubble, a bubble is too expensive and too harmful to mental health. Maybe a break in the season – but that doesn’t necessarily mean less exposure to the virus, given the lack of closures across the country. Perhaps the players should be vaccinated – except that the optics of fit athletes getting down while grandparents are still waiting for a website to load would be difficult, even if the offer doesn’t seem to be a problem.
The easiest trick to figuring out what the NBA should do next is to think that the league is one or two steps away from opening a door to normalcy. The board of directors and the players association updated the rules on January 12, telling players not to go anywhere except for team activities and essential activities, meaning they must stay at home or at their hotel when not playing. Players are also not allowed to see anyone outside of their immediate vicinity for the next two weeks. It’s the kind of lockdown that more people should be doing, except for the whole part that goes to work. It’s a non-bubble version of the bubble and the rules are so restrictive that Thunder Guard George Hill was blunt when asked about the new standards: “If it’s that serious, maybe we shouldn’t play.”
Of course, the league is determined to end this season. The financial stake is too big in the eyes of both the owners and the players to wait, play fewer games or cancel the season. As a country, we have long passed the point where the thousands upon thousands of deaths have been given a higher priority than money, especially as governments at every level refuse to help and / or encourage people to stay at home. For the NBA, getting through 2021 means that everything is back on track in the ’21 -22 season. If the league can avoid a catastrophe – depending on the definition of the term – the next season will kick off after a proper summer break, with fans likely back in the stands and the league’s financial health back on track in many ways. is. the pandemic. Getting through ’21 also means weird outbursts, added injury risks for short-handed teams already playing compressed schedules, and guys like Joel Embiid publicly complaining about the league’s decision-making. Nothing would make the ’20-21 ‘campaign’ normal ‘without waiting for things to be significantly safer.
That’s not to say there won’t be great games in the meantime. Or that LeBron is not still responsible for highlights every night. Or that players will email it. But no one can pretend this season is about preserving what goes on between the four lines of the field. What we’re watching may look like the NBA, but it isn’t. The bubble allowed players to at least focus on basketball. What we’re looking at now is often decimated rosters, guys who haven’t played in nine months, and games without fans who have sucked a lot of the spirit out of what makes this sport great, all against the backdrop of a rising death toll as our institutions don’t have the have courage to stand up against the virus. To call this season a farce would be an insult to the players who are still expending every ounce of energy they have on the floor, but it would also be foolish to pretend it’s anything but a glorified bridge to the real NBA.
There are no good options here. In a functioning society, competition probably wouldn’t have returned and the government would shut down business while helping people financially. That is clearly not the case. Continuing means accepting that the virus will infiltrate, and that means accepting the competition must constantly twist itself to keep games going while avoiding complete, reckless handover.
I’m not even mad at the competition. Businesses have been left to their own devices during this pandemic, and this is the result. But the consequences can be felt on the floor. Maybe by the time the playoffs roll around and more people have the vaccine, the piece will be more fulfilling. For the time being, the league’s and players’ decision to keep running through this landmine-laden pandemic means that they will rely on the protocols in place to keep the games on schedule. Unfortunately, while those strict protocols can work to keep the season going, the longer the league lingers in this reality, the less the games feel like the NBA.