'Significant' virus spread could thwart NBA restart: Silver

LOS ANGELES - NBA commissioner Adam Silver reiterated Tuesday that a "significant spread" of coronavirus could burst the league's safety "bubble" and cause a second shutdown of the season.

Silver said he fully expects some players who gather in Florida to resume the suspended season will test positive for coronavirus, especially as teams first arrive in Orlando from their home markets.

But he said fresh outbreaks after players go through quarantine procedures could prove more damaging.

"Certainly, if we had any sort of a significant spread at all within our campus, we would be shut down again," Silver said at Fortune's virtual Brainstorm Health conference.

"It would be concerning if once (the players) sit through our quarantine period, and then were to test positive, we would know that, in essence, there's a hole in our bubble."

The NBA halted play on March 11 after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus.

The season is set to resume on July 30 with 22 teams jockeying for a spot in the 16-team playoffs that start August 17.

All games will be held at the ESPN Sports Complex at Walt Disney World in Orlando, where players will stay in a quarantine environment.

Coronavirus testing and contact tracing measures will be in place, which Silver hopes will make the campus safe for players and NBA personnel despite the rise in COVID-19 cases in Florida.

"We can analyze the virus itself and try to track whether, if there's more than one case, if it's in essence the same virus, the same genetic variation of the virus that has passed from one player to another," Silver said.

"This should work," he said.

"But again, this virus has humbled many, so I am not going to express any higher level of confidence than we are following the protocols and we hope it works as we designed it."

AFP