Luke Walton was trying to find the right words to motivate his players to finish the season strong.
The Sacramento Kings had been eliminated from playoff contention, which was nothing new for the team with the NBA’s longest losing streak after the season.
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Yet even the players who had spent their entire careers with the organization had never heard the kind of speech their manager made this week. It wasn’t the usual talk of playing for pride, trying to impress for next season.
“He said something like, ‘We don’t know when basketball will return after this period,'” said guard Bogdan Bogdanovic.
The 22 teams that qualified for the NBA reboot will drop to 16 by the end of the weekend, when the playoff draw is set. The other six clubs come out of World Disney World in the same way as the tourists who normally fill the place.
Their fun is over. Now it’s back to the real world, and the real world in 2020 is a creepy place.
“The unknown, none of us are like that,” said Washington manager Scott Brooks.
Uncertainty awaits at the end of each season for teams that miss the playoffs. Coaches may not be selected. Free agents cannot be re-signed.
This time around, however, the questions go far beyond simple basketball matters. The coronavirus pandemic forces teams to question whether they will be safe and when – or where – they might be together again.
“I mean, we’re leaving the happiest and safest place on earth and it’s definitely going to be tough, but it’s also going to be exciting because we’re all going to see our families and that’s what we miss the most,” Brooks said. “But we don’t know what the next step will be.”
NBA teams have been on campus since early July, and there hasn’t been a positive player test for coronavirus during that time. Meanwhile, the virus has spread to other parts of the United States, gaining strength in some places as the number of cases in the country surpassed 5 million.
More than 750,000 have been killed worldwide and there have been more than 20 million known infections.
With only a limited number of people allowed inside the bubble and a commitment between them to make sure it worked, players had a safe environment. They were tested daily, and the reminders on how to wear the mask, socially distance themselves and wash your hands were so ubiquitous that Brooks said the Wizards could practically memorize the video the league gave them.
“Honestly, the NBA did a great job,” New Orleans guard Jrue Holiday said. “This was the safest place on earth. Seriously, the safest place on earth. “
Gamers are no longer sure of that security now. The use of the mask is not required in some places, it is not mandatory in others. A common commitment to following medical recommendations is one of the reasons the United States fought so hard to slow the spread of the virus in the first place.
Walton said there is obvious concern for those who have already left or are moving out of Florida.
“And I think one of the biggest challenges for us who have been in this bubble – there have been zero positive tests and it has been such a safe and natural movement going on here – (is) to readjust to what is happening outside of the bubble. bubble, “he said.
Harrison Barnes, Buddy Hield, Alex Len and Jabari Parker of the Kings had already tested positive before the restart, so the Kings know the dangers of the virus. Walton said his players will need to continue to follow the same precautions they did at Disney.
But there are still problems with basketball.
An early December has been slated for the 2020-21 season and the NBA would like it to be in the home markets with fans in the arenas, but those are far from guaranteed. Teams will not be able to prepare in the normal way, not while they are still limited to voluntary training in their facilities.
“Much of the off-season is normally based on player development, where you send coaches across the country to work with your boys every day,” Walton said. “And a lot of that won’t happen and we won’t know a start date for who knows how long.”
Concerns about the unknown, Walton noted, are faced by people around the world. The NBA teams have been protected for some time, but the Pelicans, Kings and Wizards, and soon other teams, have lost it.
They will lose more than the playoff cash bonus. They will miss the comforts of campus, the place where they had all the answers. And for a team as young as the Pelicans, who have already had to learn NBA life in the strangest season ever, the offseason could be even more challenging.
“I’m still getting used to this championship,” Holiday said of his teammates, “certainly in a strange year in which I feel that no one has ever faced this problem before, or even what will happen in the near future.”
