The NBA is targeting Friday, May 8 as the soonest date to reopen its team practice facilities in areas where stay-at-home orders have been lifted, according to a press release from the league.
The facilities would be opened on a limited basis for individual player workouts, and not for any sort of conventional group practice.
The league had originally targeted this Friday, May 1, as the potential reopening date. However, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Monday that some teams wanted more time to gauge the medical impact in states such as Georgia, where restrictions are being loosened.
After suspending the 2019-20 season indefinitely on March 11 due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the NBA ordered all team practice facilities shut on March 19 in an attempt to limit exposure.
There's some expectation the NBA could move that re-opening date back from Friday — perhaps a week or so — especially with Hawks now holding off on re-opening their facility until they have a better sense of how loosening of restrictions impacts region. https://t.co/0vsP7L6WJT
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 27, 2020
Sources: If an NBA team facility’s city is no longer subject to stay-at-home order, it may make facility open potentially starting May 8:
– Individual workouts; no more than four players permitted at facility at one time
– Max of one team staffer in person— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 27, 2020
The previous stay-at-home order in Texas expires this Thursday, April 30, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced Monday that he would allow that order to expire without being extended.
Thus, the Houston Rockets could potentially be one of the teams allowed to reopen their facilities at Toyota Center on Friday, May 8.
There’s still no known timetable for the 2019-20 season’s resumption, though The Athletic‘s Sam Amick reported Saturday that numerous key stakeholders remain optimistic that it will eventually be completed.
[lawrence-related id=28988,28955]
#NBA announces updated rules regarding player workouts at team facilities starting on the target date of May 8, subject to be moved if warranted. (No more than 4 players at any one time, no HC or asst coach my participate. Group activity, practices, scrimmages prohibited.) pic.twitter.com/cH4FXsuWNO
— Adam Wexler (@AdamJWexler) April 27, 2020