NBA players have publicly voiced their concerns that the league had not been as specific as they would have liked to be with regards to their coronavirus testing protocols, but on Saturday, the league delivered their plans for coronavirus testing, but the types of tests that will be used was not revealed in the plan, according to ESPN.
The memo doesn’t say what type of testing the league will use, but sources told ESPN’s Zach Lowe that it is a less invasive nasal swab, and possibly much less invasive than the one that has been common so far.
So, the players will likely still be waiting on some more concrete answers from the NBA. Shams Charania of The Athletic also reported that the league gave teams the go-ahead to test asymptomatic players. It appears that the NBA will not do the long nasal swab that goes near the brain which many have seen, which begs the question of how accurate their coronavirus tests are. Several players, led by Kyrie Irving and Dwight Howard, also have legitimate questions about whether they want to play at all amid a backdrop of social and political unrest in the streets of American cities sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of police, as well as centuries of racial violence in the United States.
Meanwhile, young players like Kyle Kuzma are asking the league for increased insurance protections against illness and severe injury. LeBron is clearly one of the superstar players who would like to finish the season, but he has yet to speak out on the objections from his NBA colleagues.
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