The 2020 NBA Bubble, also referred to as the Disney Bubble or the Orlando Bubble, was the
bio-secure bubble
A bio-secure bubble, also known as a bubble, or hub city, was a hosting arrangement for sporting events that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, under which events were held at a centralized site, often behind closed doors, with strict quarant ...
at
Walt Disney World
The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, th ...
in
Bay Lake, Florida
Bay Lake is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 29 at the 2020 census. It is named after a lake that lies east of the Magic Kingdom. All four of the Walt Disney World Resort theme parks, and one of Walt Disney W ...
, near
Orlando
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...
, that was created by the
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...
(NBA) to protect its players from the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
during the final eight games of the
2019–20 regular season and throughout the
2020 NBA playoffs. 22 out of the 30 NBA teams were invited to participate (the other eight had been eliminated from playoff contention) with games being held
behind closed doors at the
ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex
The ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is a multi-purpose sports complex located in the Walt Disney World Resort, in Bay Lake, Florida, United States, near Orlando. The complex includes nine venues and hosts numerous professional and amateur s ...
and the teams staying at Disney World hotels.
The bubble was a $190 million investment by the NBA to protect its 2019–20 season, which was initially
suspended by the pandemic on March 11, 2020.
The bubble recouped an estimated $1.5 billion in revenue.
In June, the NBA approved the plan to resume the season at Disney World, inviting the 22 teams that were within six games of a playoff spot when the season was suspended. The plan initially received a mixed reaction from players and coaches.
After playing three exhibition scrimmages inside the bubble in late July, the invited teams played eight additional regular season games to determine playoff seeding.
The playoffs began on August 17, and the
NBA Finals
The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...
began on September 30. During the playoffs, there were additional delays to the season prompted by activism related to the
shooting of Jacob Blake
On August 23, 2020, Jacob S. Blake, a 29-year-old black man, was shot and seriously injured by police officer Rusten Sheskey in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Sheskey shot Blake in the back four times and the side three times after Blake opened the driv ...
. The season ended on October 11 when the
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...
defeated the
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Southe ...
in six games. From the start of the resumed
2019–20 season until the end of the NBA Finals, the NBA ended with no recorded cases of
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
for the teams participating in the bubble.
The NBA Bubble in some form or another has been made into a contingency plan for the NBA in future
pandemics
A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of in ...
or major disease outbreaks, should they occur in the future.
Suspension of the season
On March 11, 2020, the NBA announced the suspension of the
2019–20 season following
Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...
center
Rudy Gobert
Rudy Gobert-Bourgarel ( ; born June 26, 1992) is a French professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also represents the French national team in their international competitions. ...
testing positive for
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
hours before the Jazz road game against the
Oklahoma City Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team plays i ...
. On June 4, the NBA Board of Governors approved 29–1 (with the lone dissenter being the
Portland Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...
) resuming the 2019–20 season in Orlando, Florida at Walt Disney World, after prior consideration of
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
and
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
as potential spots.
On June 5, the
National Basketball Players Association
The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) is a labor union that represents National Basketball Association (NBA) players. It was founded in 1954, making it the oldest trade union of the four major professional sports leagues in the Uni ...
(NBPA) approved negotiations with the NBA.
Resumption of the season
On June 17, 2020, the NBA released a medical protocol to be used during the season restart in the bubble to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches, officials, and staff.
This protocol included regular testing for
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
prior to and throughout the season restart, wearing a face covering or mask, and
physical distancing
In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious disea ...
to prevent an outbreak of COVID-19 from occurring. Also, players and coaches deemed "high-risk individuals" by their team, or players who had already suffered season-ending injuries prior to season suspension, would not be permitted to play and would also not lose any salary. Any player medically cleared could also decline to participate but would lose their corresponding paychecks.
The protocol outlined six phases to ensure a smooth transition into the bubble and a successful end to the season:
* Phase 1 of the plan ran from June 16 to 22, consisting of players traveling back to the home cities of their respective teams.
* In Phase 2 from June 23 to 30,
COVID-19 tests
COVID-19 testing involves analyzing samples to assess the current or past presence of SARS-CoV-2. The two main types of tests detect either the presence of the virus or antibodies produced in response to infection. Molecular tests for viral p ...
began being administered to players every other day.
* In Phase 3 from July 1 to 11, mandatory individual workouts were conducted at team facilities, but group workouts were prohibited.
* Phase 4 was from July 7 to 21, consisting of the teams traveling to Disney World and conducting practices. Any player who tested positive in the previous phases could not travel until being medically cleared to do so. Once teams arrived in Orlando, players and staff were isolated in their rooms, required to pass two
polymerase chain reaction
The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a method widely used to rapidly make millions to billions of copies (complete or partial) of a specific DNA sample, allowing scientists to take a very small sample of DNA and amplify it (or a part of it) t ...
(PCR) tests 24 hours apart before being let out of this quarantine.
Players and staff were regularly tested for COVID-19 afterwards throughout the season. A player who tested positive was isolated and re-tested in case of a false positive; if COVID-19 was definitely confirmed, he was quarantined for at least 14 days to recover.
Players and staff were not permitted into another's room, nor were they able to socialize with players on other teams staying at a different hotel building. They had access to food and recreational activities within their hotel's bubble, but they had to wear masks indoors except when eating. Anybody who left the bubble without prior approval had to be quarantined for at least 10 days.
* During Phase 5 from July 22 to 29, teams played three scrimmages against the other teams staying at the same hotel.
* During Phase 6, as the regular season seeding games and playoffs were underway and teams began to be eliminated from contention, players and staff on those clubs had to pass one final COVID-19 test before they could leave Disney World.
With fans not being permitted to attend in person, the NBA installed screens on the courts to display multimedia content and a mosaic of virtual spectators powered by
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a proprietary business communication platform developed by Microsoft, as part of the Microsoft 365 family of products. Teams primarily competes with the similar service Slack, offering workspace chat and videoconferencin ...
.
On July 30, the season resumed as planned, with the
Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...
defeating the
New Orleans Pelicans
The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division and play their hom ...
and the
Los Angeles Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...
defeating the
Los Angeles Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...
. The games were played across three Disney venues at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex: the HP Field House, the
Visa Athletic Center and The
AdventHealth Arena
The ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is a multi-purpose sports complex located in the Walt Disney World Resort, in Bay Lake, Florida, United States, near Orlando. The complex includes nine venues and hosts numerous professional and amateur s ...
.
The NBA launched an advertising campaign, "It's a Whole New Game", to promote the resumption.
Proposal for a second bubble
A second bubble to be hosted in Chicago was briefly considered by the NBA for the eight teams not invited to the bubble so they would also have some sort of competitive play instead of merely sitting out the entire time from March 2020 to the start of the 2020–21 season in December, referred to as the "Delete Eight", but ultimately the plan fell through. Although it was reported that the eight teams would have an opportunity to join the NBA Bubble in Orlando following the playoffs, this also did not work out.
On August 20, 2020, the NBA and NBPA announced an agreement where the eight teams could have voluntary group workouts at their respective practice facilities from September 4 to October 10.
Rules
The NBA produced a rule book of more than 100 pages to protect its players in an attempt to salvage the remainder of the season. Rules included isolation periods, testing requirements, and the potential for financial penalties. Any players subject to isolation periods when a game was scheduled had to forego participating in the game to complete their isolation. The NBA had a hotline allowing people to anonymously report players who broke the rules of the bubble, which players referred to as the "snitch hotline". Players always had to wear masks, with eating and exercise being exceptions. Additionally, staff working at these facilities had to wear masks and gloves at all times, though the staff were not required to quarantine.
Players were not required to join the bubble, and at least ten players declined to join their teams. Nobody was allowed to have guests, and all food was prepared within the bubble. Only four players were cited for violating the rules of the bubble:
Lou Williams
Louis Tyrone Williams (born October 27, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was drafted directly out of high school by the Philadelphia 76ers ...
,
Richaun Holmes
Richaun Diante Holmes (born October 15, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Bowling Green Falcons where he was named to mu ...
,
Bruno Caboclo
Bruno Correa Fernandes Caboclo (born September 21, 1995) is a Brazilian professional basketball player for Ratiopharm Ulm of the Basketball Bundesliga (BBL). He plays at the forward positions.
After making his debut for Pinheiros in Brazil, ...
, and
Danuel House
Danuel Kennedy House Jr. (born June 7, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played two seasons of college basketball for the Houston Cougars before trans ...
.
![MagicBands (33053172926) (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/MagicBands_%2833053172926%29_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Players were allowed to use many of the Disney facilities, such as pools, golf courses, bicycles, gaming areas, barbers, bowling, ping pong, and spa services.
RFID
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...
-enabled
MagicBands, which are normally used at Walt Disney World for hotel keys and other
admissions and personalization features at theme park attractions, were utilized as a check-in and
contact tracing
In public health, contact tracing is the process of identifying persons who may have been exposed to an infected person ("contacts") and subsequent collection of further data to assess transmission. By tracing the contacts of infected individua ...
mechanism, and could be used to restrict access to practice facilities and courts if one had not completed a daily health monitoring review.
Impact on media production
National broadcaster
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
, in partnership with the NBA and the league's other broadcaster
Turner
Turner may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Turner (surname), a common surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name
* Turner (given name), a list of people with the given name
*One who uses a lathe for turni ...
, set up a 100-plus camera infrastructure surrounding the three arenas being used at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. The national broadcasts also had additional cameras to provide new angles, including a "rail cam" at the side of the court, and free-throw line cameras. ESPN and Turner production staff and some on-air hosts were present inside the "bubble". ESPN and Turner had many
announcers
An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event.
Television and other media
Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, ...
,
play-by-play
In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...
,
color
Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...
, and
other commentators physically present to call bubble games. For regional broadcasters, live feeds were fed to their respective studio for calling and broadcasting.
While most ESPN and Turner announcers were in the bubble, 79-year-old Turner play-by-play commentator
Marv Albert
Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American retired sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he ...
and 87-year-old ESPN color commentator
Hubie Brown
Hubert Jude Brown (born September 25, 1933) is an American retired basketball coach and player and a current television analyst. Brown is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, the honors being separated by 26 years. Brown was inducted into the Naism ...
declined to participate citing their advanced ages as potential risks for severe illness from COVID-19.
Effectiveness
The bubble proved to be extremely effective at preventing the spread of COVID-19. Leading up to the resumption of play on July 30, there were two consecutive weeks of zero players testing positive for COVID-19.
This streak was continued after play resumed, with five consecutive weeks of zero players testing positive for COVID-19 as of August 19. Starting on August 31, players were allowed to pay for one guest room. Family or non family members with proof of a longstanding relationship with the player could stay in the room and quarantine upon arrival for one week.
On October 11, the season concluded with zero cases of COVID-19 in the bubble for its entire duration.
Reaction
The decision by the NBA to enact bubble play had initially received mixed reaction from its players and coaches, with some players referring to it as a prison sentence. Other players complained about the food, with
Philadelphia 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...
center
Joel Embiid
Joel Hans Embiid ( ; born 16 March 1994) is a Cameroonian professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), who also holds French and American citizenship. After one year of college basket ...
showing his meal and said that he was "definitely losing 50 lbs", as a reference to fan gripe regarding his weight affecting his on-court performance.
After arriving in the bubble,
Orlando Magic
The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...
forward
Aaron Gordon
Aaron Addison Gordon (born September 16, 1995) is an American professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played one year of college basketball for the University of Arizona before bein ...
said it felt "strange", while
Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...
guard
Mike Conley Jr.
Michael Alex Conley Jr. (born October 11, 1987) is an American professional basketball player for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was drafted as the fourth pick in the 2007 NBA draft by the Memphis Grizzlies. Con ...
described the feeling as "surreal". Near the end of the regular season, NBA Commissioner
Adam Silver
Adam Silver (born April 25, 1962) is an American lawyer and sports executive who serves as the fifth and current commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He joined the NBA in 1992 and has held various positions within the lea ...
stated that the bubble was "better than what we had envisioned".
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Southe ...
forward
Jimmy Butler
Jimmy Butler III (born September 14, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Jimmy Buckets", he is a six-time NBA All-Star, a four-time All-NBA Team honore ...
used the opportunity to start a coffee shop in the bubble, where he charged $20 per cup. Butler was also one of few players to make the decision not to allow his family to visit in the bubble, stating that his time in the bubble was a "business trip".
Several players, including
Los Angeles Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...
forward
Paul George
Paul Clifton Anthony George (born May 2, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "PG-13", he is a seven-time NBA All-Star and six-time member of th ...
, also commented on how being in the bubble affected their mental health.
Schedule
The bubble followed the schedule below:
:
1 Originally August 17–30, but the boycott delay meant that the last first-round game, Game 7 between Oklahoma City and Houston, was played on September 2.
Venues and bases
In addition to the three venues in the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex which were hosting games, three official Disney resorts were chosen to host the teams, with the teams being arranged based on their respective records prior to entering the bubble. Although teams competed in the same campus, bubble games maintained the
home
A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...
and
away structure of a traditional NBA season. Game feeds had been augmented in real-time to insert graphics on the court's floor such as the "home" team's logo, their real venue's name, and advertising, similar to
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL) broadcast's
1st & Ten line.
Teams/results
There were 22 teams that were invited to the bubble: the 16 teams in playoff position and the six teams within six games of playoff position, with their seeding and overall records.
Seeding
Eastern Conference
Western Conference
Notes
* z – Clinched best record in the league
* c – Clinched best record in the conference
* y – Clinched division title
* x – Clinched playoff spot
* p – Clinched play-in
* o – Eliminated from playoff contention
* * – Division winner
Play-In
Western Conference: (8) Portland Trail Blazers vs. (9) Memphis Grizzlies
''As the eighth seed, Portland had to win one game, while Memphis had to win two.''
Playoffs
Seeding Games awards
Awards for play during the seeding games were also announced, with
Damian Lillard
Damian Lamonte Ollie Lillard Sr. (born July 15, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Weber State Wildcats and earned ...
named Player of the Seeding Games after averaging 37.6 points per game.
Activism
With the
George Floyd protests
The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internati ...
ongoing, the NBA, the NBPA, and the teams worked together to use the bubble as a platform for the
Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...
movement. During warmups and while sitting on the bench, players wore T-shirts with large print and the text "Black Lives Matter". This phrase was also painted in large font on all official basketball courts being used for gameplay. Additionally, players were allowed the option to replace the names on the backs of their jerseys with a meaningful statement of their choice in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The national anthem was pre-recorded in advance exclusively by
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
artists.
Jonathan Isaac
Jonathan Judah Isaac (born October 3, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for one season for the Florida State Seminoles.
Isaac ...
was the first player to stand during the national anthem and to elect not to wear a Black Lives Matter warm-up shirt, citing religious reasons for his decision. Other players respected his decision, even if they disagreed with him.
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Southe ...
player
Meyers Leonard
Meyers Patrick Leonard (born February 27, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the University of Illinois Fighting Illini befor ...
also chose to stand with his hand over his heart. His reasoning came down to his support for the military.
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...
coaches
Gregg Popovich
Gregg Charles Popovich (born January 28, 1949) is an American professional basketball coach and executive who is the president and head coach of the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Taking over as coach of the Spur ...
, an outspoken supporter of Black Lives Matter, and
Becky Hammon
Rebecca Lynn Hammon ( rus, links=no, Бекки Хэммон; born March 11, 1977) is an American-Russian professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces of the Women’s National Basketball Associati ...
also chose to stand for their own reasons.
Sean Roberts, a
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
member of the
Oklahoma House of Representatives
The Oklahoma House of Representatives is the lower house of the legislature of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Its members introduce and vote on bills and resolutions, provide legislative oversight for state agencies, and help to craft the state's b ...
, threatened to pull tax breaks for the
Oklahoma City Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team plays i ...
if they kneeled. All of the players and coaches from both the Thunder and the opposing Utah Jazz kneeled anyway.
In response to the
shooting of Jacob Blake
On August 23, 2020, Jacob S. Blake, a 29-year-old black man, was shot and seriously injured by police officer Rusten Sheskey in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Sheskey shot Blake in the back four times and the side three times after Blake opened the driv ...
in
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Kenosha () is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the seat of Kenosha County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 99,986 which made it the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Kenos ...
, the Milwaukee Bucks boycotted Game 5 of their series against the Orlando Magic on August 26. Later that day, the NBA announced that in light of the Bucks' decision, all games for the day were postponed. The NBPA held a meeting to address the situation regarding the boycott, where the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers voted not to play the remainder of the season. Every other team, however, voted to continue playing. On August 27, the players agreed to continue the playoffs, but all games scheduled for that night were postponed as well. The playoffs were resumed on August 29, after the NBA and NBPA agreed on three commitments for social justice reform efforts, including opening up arenas as voting centers in the
upcoming election.
Legacy
With the success of the 2020 NBA Bubble, the NBA decided to implement the same measures utilized there into the
2020–21 NBA G League season
The 2020–21 NBA G League season was the 20th season of the NBA G League, the official minor league basketball organization owned by the National Basketball Association (NBA). The season was indefinitely postponed following the previous season's ...
, dubbed as the "2021 G League Bubble" by media outlets like
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
. In the G League Bubble setting, it was agreed that only 17 out of the 28
NBA G League
The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...
's teams that were officially eligible for this season, as well as the newly created
NBA G League Ignite
The NBA G League Ignite is a developmental basketball team in the NBA G League. Based in Henderson, Nevada, the team was designed to play exhibition games outside the G League's traditional scheduling as part of a one-year development program for e ...
(a
farm team
In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...
that was not initially planned to compete in the playoffs this season due to their status as a developmental team before later being allowed in for this season's playoffs due to the new format set up for their bubble setting), would compete throughout February and March 2021 in a truncated season at the
ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex
The ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is a multi-purpose sports complex located in the Walt Disney World Resort, in Bay Lake, Florida, United States, near Orlando. The complex includes nine venues and hosts numerous professional and amateur s ...
, similar to the NBA Bubble. However, their regular season gave each team 15 total games between February 10 and March 6, with no divisional or conference alignments at all during this season, before the eight best regular season teams competed in a single-elimination playoff from March 8 until the championship game on March 11. The single elimination tournament ended with the #6 seed
Lakeland Magic
The Lakeland Magic are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Lakeland, Florida, and are affiliated with the Orlando Magic. The Magic began play in the 2017–18 season and play their home games at the RP Fundin ...
(affiliate team of the
Orlando Magic
The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...
) winning the G League Championship by a final score of 97–78 over the #4 seed
Delaware Blue Coats
The Delaware Blue Coats are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Wilmington, Delaware, and are affiliated with the Philadelphia 76ers. The Blue Coats play their home games at Chase Fieldhouse. The team was founde ...
(affiliate team of the
Philadelphia 76ers
The Philadelphia 76ers, colloquially known as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eas ...
).
Devin Cannady
Devin Cannady (born May 21, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the South Bay Lakers of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Princeton Tigers.
Early life and high school career
Cannady was introduced to baske ...
was given the
NBA G League Finals Most Valuable Player Award
The NBA G League Finals Most Valuable Player is an annual award given by the NBA G League since 2015, when the competition was known as the NBA Development League (D-League), to the best performing player of the championship series. Elliot William ...
after the championship game concluded that day.
For the
2020–21 NBA season
The 2020–21 NBA season was the 75th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA), though the 75th anniversary was not celebrated until the following season. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the regular season was reduced to 72 games for ea ...
, the NBA hoped to prevent spread of the COVID-19 virus by having their teams limit the number of fans allowed to enter their stadiums to watch their games live, with a majority of them deciding to play
behind closed doors as an extra precaution. However, throughout January 2021, the number of games suspended for the 2020–21 season dramatically increased from only one game in 2020 to 22 by the end of January. With the NBA creating more rules and regulations to combat even greater spread of the virus during that time, players and coaches also supported looking into a similar setting to their 2020 Bubble into the second half of their season in 2021.
[It's Not Too Late for the NBA to Return to a Bubble](_blank)
/ref> These discussions for a similar setting were kept in mind for that season in the event the rate of infection worsened later on in the season, even with greater COVID-19 vaccine
A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19).
Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an e ...
usage for the general population in mind. However, the NBA encouraged players, coaches, and other team personnel to start getting their vaccine shots against the virus during the second half of the season.
The NBA bubble became a contingency plan for the NBA in the event for a future pandemic or other major disease outbreaks.
On March 24 2021, HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
and Oh Dip!!! Productions released a documentary on HBO Max
HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...
called ''The Day Sports Stood Still''. Around the start of the 2019–20 NBA season suspension, Chris Paul
Christopher Emmanuel Paul (born May 6, 1985), nicknamed "CP3" and “The Point God”, is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Paul is widely regarded as one o ...
called movie producer Brian Grazer
Brian Thomas Grazer (born July 12, 1951) is an American film and television producer and writer. He founded Imagine Entertainment in 1986 with Ron Howard. The films they produced have grossed over $15 billion. Grazer was personally nominated fo ...
about the season's suspension, alongside every other major sports league that was set to play around this time, making for an interesting documentary.Chris Paul Knew the 2020 NBA Season Would Be a Movie as Soon as It Was Suspended
/ref> In addition to covering the season's suspension period and how it affected some of the players that had been involved with the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
earlier on, it also covered how the shooting of Breonna Taylor
Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African-American woman, was fatally shot in her Louisville, Kentucky apartment on March 13, 2020, when at least seven police officers forced entry into the apartment as part of an investigation into drug dealing op ...
, and the murders of Ahmaud Arbery
On February 23, 2020, Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, was murdered during a racially motivated hate crime while jogging in Satilla Shores, a neighborhood near Brunswick in Glynn County, Georgia. and George Floyd
George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man who was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd may have used a counterfeit twe ...
affected the NBA's planning for the 2020 NBA Bubble, the potential risks it could have held for the players and everyone else involved there, and how the shooting of Jacob Blake
On August 23, 2020, Jacob S. Blake, a 29-year-old black man, was shot and seriously injured by police officer Rusten Sheskey in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Sheskey shot Blake in the back four times and the side three times after Blake opened the driv ...
continued affecting the results of the bubble during the 2020 NBA playoffs.
See also
* Support bubble
* WWE ThunderDome
The WWE ThunderDome was a bio-secure bubble created by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, in partnership with the full-service fan experience company, The Famous Group. It was launched in August 2020 as a way for professional wres ...
, a similar mechanism used by the wrestling company WWE
* MLS is Back Tournament
The MLS is Back Tournament took place during the 2020 Major League Soccer season to mark the league's return to action after being suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the 26 Major League Soccer teams, 24 participated in the tour ...
, a similar concept for Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
also held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex
The ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is a multi-purpose sports complex located in the Walt Disney World Resort, in Bay Lake, Florida, United States, near Orlando. The complex includes nine venues and hosts numerous professional and amateur s ...
References
External links
Coronavirus: Know The Facts
(NBA.com)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suspension of the 2019-20 NBA season
2019–20 NBA season
NBA Bubble
The 2020 NBA Bubble, also referred to as the Disney Bubble or the Orlando Bubble, was the bio-secure bubble at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando, that was created by the National Basketball Association (NBA) to protect its pla ...
Boston Celtics venues
Brooklyn Nets venues
Containment efforts related to the COVID-19 pandemic
COVID-19 pandemic in the United States
Dallas Mavericks venues
Denver Nuggets venues
Former National Basketball Association venues
Houston Rockets venues
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
Indiana Pacers venues
Los Angeles Clippers venues
Los Angeles Lakers venues
Memphis Grizzlies venues
Miami Heat venues
Milwaukee Bucks venues
New Orleans Pelicans venues
Oklahoma City Thunder venues
Orlando Magic venues
Phoenix Suns venues
Philadelphia 76ers venues
Portland Trail Blazers venues
Sacramento Kings venues
San Antonio Spurs venues
Toronto Raptors venues
Utah Jazz venues
Washington Wizards venues