Toronto Raptors reach the Disney campus in buses marked “Black Lives Matter”.

TORONTO – Nikola Vucevic had to raise his voice slightly to answer a question. He had just left the field after the first Orlando Magic practice session, and some of his teammates stayed on the ground while participating in a loud and enthusiastic shooting competition.

Basketball was really back after four months.

The extensive training within the NBA bubble at the Disney complex started on Thursday. The Magic – the first team to hit campus earlier this week – was the first team to officially get back on the ground. By the close of business on Thursday, all 22 teams participating in the restart should be checked into their hotel and isolated from the rest of the world for at least a few weeks. And by Saturday all teams should have trained at least once.

“It’s great to be back after four months,” said Vucevic. “We all missed it.”

The last eight teams came on Thursday, including the Los Angeles Lakers and the Philadelphia 76ers. LeBron James, the striker from Lakers, complained of saying goodbye to his family, and Joel Embiid, who raised a few eyebrows earlier this week when he said he was “not a big fan of the idea” of resizing the season in a bubble take off, showed up for his team’s flight in an apparently full Hazmat suit.

“I just left the crib to go to the bladder … I hated leaving the (hashtag) JamesGang,” James wrote on Twitter.

Another arrival on the last day on Disney campus was incumbent NBA champion Toronto Raptors, who boarded buses for the two-hour drive from Naples, Florida. You’ve been there for about two weeks, training at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers – for the trip to the bladder. The buses were specially packaged for the occasion, with the Raptors logo and the words “Black Lives Matter” on the sides.

Brooklyn, Utah, Washington and Phoenix were all together to practice magic on Thursday. Denver was originally planned to postpone its opening session until Friday. The exercises will be constant until Saturday – 22 teams train at different times in a window of 13 1/2 hours and spread across seven different facilities.

The exhibition games begin on July 22nd. The games will start again on July 30th.

“It just felt good to be back on the ground,” said Brooklyn interim coach Jacque Vaughn, who took over Kenny Atkinson’s coronavirus less than a week before the March 11 season break. “I think that was the most exciting. We are in a bit of a condition. We didn’t get too hard after the quarantine, we wanted to make the boys just run up and down a bit and feel the ball again.”

Most of the teams had to wait two days after their arrival before they could get to the practice area. Many players have spent time playing video games; The center of Miami, Meyers Leonard, whose heat was only trained for the first time on Friday, has given fans insights into everything from his game setup to his room service order for his first Disney dinner – with lobster biscuit, burger, and Chicken strips and a little Coors Light to wash off.

Food has been a big issue so far, especially after a handful of players turned to social media to share what was portrayed as less than excellent meals during the short quarantine period.

“For the most part, everything was pretty good in my opinion,” said network watchman Joe Harris. “They did a good job, looked after us and made sure that we were accommodated as well as possible in all areas.”

Learning campus was another key in the first few days, and this process is likely to continue for a while as the teams will use all possible facilities as they return to the practice routine.

“We have to make the best of it,” said Vucevic. “You know, this is our job. We will try to make the best of it. I really think the NBA has done the best to do this for us as best as possible. And as soon as we start playing, you will don’t think about the little things. “