Outside of practices and eventually games, NBA players who have traveled to the league’s bubble complex near Orlando are encouraged to practice social distancing as much as reasonably possible.
While masks and six feet of distancing are options for many social activities to minimize potential COVID-19 risks, the safest option of all is for players to spend lots of off-court time in their hotel rooms.
The Houston Rockets are among eight teams staying at the Grand Floridian, and they hope their stay will last for at least a couple months — since that would mean advancing in the NBA playoffs.
To incentivize staying in, the rooms for NBA personnel at the Disney complex aren’t average rooms. The beds are longer than usual to make tall athletes more comfortable. Food delivery options are from prominent restaurants. Many rooms have a balcony with great views.
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The league is also giving goodie bags featuring snacks and a variety of safety gear such as masks, gloves, and sanitizer. Other items include literature, headlined by The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The book discusses race-related issues specific to African-American males and mass incarceration, topics at the forefront of many minds amid the growing U.S. racial justice movement.
The giveaways also have various gaming and streaming hookups for each room’s television, all aimed at allowing players to pass the extensive downtime outside of basketball in the safest manner possible.
Upon Houston’s arrival late Thursday, reserve guard Ben McLemore took to Instagram to give his fans a video tour of his room. The full compilation (from his stories) can be seen below, along with his reactions.
.@BenMcLemore gives a tour of his hotel room at the Grand Floridian. This is where the #Rockets will stay in Orlando. pic.twitter.com/Go2iP0qZon
— Alykhan Bijani (@Rockets_Insider) July 10, 2020