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Jared Dudley says things could get ‘very tricky’ for NBA if some teams can practice before others

People around the NBA are also wary of practice facilities opening, but for a different reason.

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Lakers All Access Practice Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

Next month will mark two months since the NBA indefinitely suspended its season, and while we still have no idea when games will resume, the league has tentative plans to let some teams re-open their practice facilities as soon as May 8. However, the fact that only teams in states where stay-at-home orders are being relaxed will be granted access to their facilities has already raised a few eyebrows across the league.

On Saturday, Lakers forward Jared Dudley questioned the fairness of only certain teams having access to their practice facility:

Teams won’t be able to hold group workouts when the facilities re-open, but individual players will have access to their team’s regular facilities, which would, in theory, give said players a competitive edge once the season returns. That’s especially true now that players can’t seek out private gyms anymore, something that a few players on the Lakers had already done.

Additionally, there’s the concern that giving players and staff access to facilities too quickly could reverse any progress the league has made over the past two months, and that’s reportedly the No. 1 concern teams currently have — even more so than teams having a slight advantage:

Of course, there are also teams that believe there would be no harm in giving their players a place to get back into shape, so long as precautions are taken:

Those precautions will include players wearing face masks, staff wearing gloves and physical distancing, according to a report by Shams Charania of The Athletic:

The safer at home order in California won’t be lifted until at least May 15, so this doesn’t mean much for the Los Angeles Lakers in the immediate future. However, it does sort of indicate that the league sees a path to the season returning. Couple that with the report that the MLB also expected to get its season off the ground, eventually, and there’s reason to be cautiously optimistic.

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