NBA needs to go back to ‘The Bubble’ if they want a safe and fair season

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Photo Credit: Neonbrand / Unsplash

NBA Summer League game being played at Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, United States.

by Rob Zamparelli, Co-Editor-in-Chief

If the NBA wants to have a fair and safe season they must go back to the bubble format that was very successful from last season.

Even though the NBA has tough restrictions on the players on what they can do, they still interact with family and friends at their homes. Interactions with family and friends could be a  possible way that  coronavirus could get spread into the organizations.,

With COVID-19 affecting everything in the U.S. last March, the National Basketball Association was in the middle of its season which caused it to be put on hold for a few months. The NBA knew that the only way a season would work would be to have every organization in the same place and all play at the same venue.

However, the hard part about all of this was that they needed a location that could fit all of these teams and staff members and have enough places to practice, play and stay. The NBA was able to find a perfect place for this: Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL.

The NBA could have not picked a better venue to host the playoffs last year than Disney. It provided the players and staff with many amenities to make this feel as normal as possible. They had barber shops available, all the restaurants inside Disney for the players, and much more. 

The teams were split up into different Disney Resorts and all personnel were able to stay on Disney grounds. Everyone inside the bubble was tested each day. The Bubble was a huge success from when it started on July 7th and concluded on October 7th. There was not one single positive test.

This caught the attention of many other sports such as the NHL (National Hockey League), who followed the NBA’s Lead with a bubble and did one also.

However, this new season the NBA will not be at the bubble, and be played at arenas like past years. 

Disney had 2 courts for the games to be played, which works for the NBA playoffs since only 16 of the 32 teams make the playoffs. With all 32 teams playing now, the action bubble would not work because it would be too long and would be way too hard to fit in every game on 2 courts.

So far this season the NBA has dealt with the coronavirus problems much more than expected. These problems have led to cancellations of games, players having to miss games due to coming in contact with somebody who has it, and inclusive tests or even getting the virus themself.

The NBA needs to make changes because it is not fair for teams to play games with the minimum 7 players sometimes playing games without they’re best players and so on.

This has been a big problem for teams because they have gone days and even weeks without their best player, causing them to lose more games than expected.

The NBA needs to consider going back to a bubble of some sort or make tougher restrictions so that this season is fair and each game is played with each team’s best of competitions. 

The NBA has some surprises at this point of the season so far, due to lack of players being available, missing star players or even not having fans in the stands for momentum.

A return to the bubble would most likely mean less COVID cases throughout the organizations and less games being postponed which means non-stop basketball! The Bubble was an overall great experience for the players staff and most importantly the fans! With no sports on for a few months it finally gave fans something to look forward to doing after a few long months.