Rockets likely to push reopening of Toyota Center facilities to May 18

The Rockets had planned to open their facilities to players on Friday, but Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says gyms will open on Monday, May 18.

The Houston Rockets are likely to target Monday, May 18 as the official reopening of Toyota Center to players for individual workouts, as first reported by Mark Medina of USA TODAY Sports.

Facilities have been closed since March 19 amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. But with stay-at-home orders for many NBA cities expiring in May, the league recently said it would allow facilities to reopen as soon as Friday, May 8 in areas without government restrictions.

With Texas in the process of a phased reopening, the Rockets had previously indicated that they wanted to reopen Toyota Center to the team’s players on the first permissible day (this Friday).

But in a Tuesday news conference, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott clarified that under his plan, the state’s reopening date for gyms is May 18. In addition, many of the team’s players are currently at offseason homes outside of Houston and would not be in town this weekend, anyway. Thus, the Rockets are likely to defer to the state’s official timeline.

For the time being, the NBA facilities will only be opened on a limited basis for individual player workouts under strict physical distancing protocols, and not for any sort of conventional group practice.

The timetable for returning to more traditional practices, along with eventually resuming the 2019-20 season, remains unknown. The league continues to monitor developments with COVID-19 testing infrastructure, which needs to be in place for a potential return to team play.

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