Inside the NBA Bubble

Inside+the+NBA+Bubble

Jermia Green, Staff Writer

Thanks to social media, fans have enjoyed an inside look at daily life in the “NBA bubble.”  On July 7, players started arriving at the Walt Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida where they’ll live, train and compete for the rest of the season. Thanks to social media, fans have enjoyed an inside look at daily life in the “NBA bubble.” Philadelphia 76ers Rookie Matisse Thybulle and JaVale McGee of the Los Angeles Lakers have been recording videos and posting day in the life videos on their YouTube channel.  

The NBA will allow players to invite some guests to the league campus in Orlando between the first and second rounds of the restart playoffs.  Players aren’t allowed to have family visit the campus until further notice. Each team will receive up to 17 guest rooms. Players can host no more than four guests, although some exceptions are made for those with small children. Player guests can arrive on campus as early as August 24th and must complete a seven-day, in-room quarantine upon arrival. Anyone entering the Orlando “bubble” is required to quarantine for up to 48 hours until they register two negative COVID-19 tests. Any players who leave the bubble environment would undergo quarantine of up to 10 days upon their return to Disney and will need to register two negative tests as well as an antibody test before returning to play. All players must get tested and quarantine for 14 days. Everyone in the bubble is tested each night, with the results coming out the following morning. 

The bubble is a $170 million investment by the NBA to protect its 2019–20 season, all of this is contingent on the bubble maintaining its safety. So far, the experiment has worked, with zero positive tests since the initial arrival and quarantine period.