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There was a lot of celebrating when the NBA Board of Governor’s (almost) unanimously voted to approve a plan to resume the 2019-20 season at Disney World, but there was still one major potential hurdle that the league had to clear before making its return: Getting clearance from the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), the union representing the league’s players.
According to some of the league’s most reliable newsbreakers, that hurdle has been cleared. With NBPA approval, basketball is officially going to Disney World:
The NBA and NBPA will work through a number of details in the next week on the resumption in Orlando, but sides are ready to move together toward the July 31 tip. https://t.co/lgYhAKShPr
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 5, 2020
Sources: All 28 player reps on the call approved the NBPA's vote. https://t.co/xP7Lij5H0P
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 5, 2020
On a conference call this afternoon, the National Basketball Players Association has voted to play the resumption of 2019-20 season, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 5, 2020
Danny Green is the Lakers’ player representative, with Jared Dudley serving as the team’s alternate rep. This is important to know, because there are still a few details left to be negotiated before this is absolutely set in stone:
The NBA players union just announced that it has indeed "approved further negotiations with the NBA on a 22-team return to play scenario to restart the 2019-20 NBA season" but also noted that "various details remain to be negotiated" before full "acceptance of the scenario"
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 5, 2020
Union members were advised today that family members arriving at the start of the second round of the playoffs would also have to quarantine in Orlando for seven days, league sources say
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 5, 2020
And from the sound of things, those are far from the only things that are still left to be figured out before the resumption of the season begins, but it does sound incredibly unlikely that this will fall apart entirely at this point. The union also still is telling its players it’s going to negotiate the start of next season as well, something that was expected but still worth noting as a potential snag:
As expected, Michele Roberts informed NBPA members that the starting dates for next season -- along with a myriad of items -- will be part of a negotiation with the NBA in coming weeks, per sources. https://t.co/oiNO6P9Imr
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 5, 2020
We also got the first concrete details on the testing protocol the league will put in place for players:
Sources: The NBPA informed players today that NBA/NBPA will conduct coronavirus testing every night during resumed season -- likely mouth swabs/light nasal swabs and not full invasive nasal swab. Minimum seven days quarantine for a player if positive.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 5, 2020
It remains unknown if this same standard of testing will apply to coaches, other team employees and resort staff also in the league’s bubble. Still, all of this makes it as close to a certainty as it possibly can be that we will see some form of NBA basketball in the next few months.
To paraphrase a certain anonymous Lakers coach, “let’s roll, baby.”
For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.