NBA Restart – Page 4 – Syndication Server

NBA restart: Players who won’t play in Disney World

NBA restart: Players who won’t play in Disney World.
Davis Bertans
Washington Wizards.
Trevor Ariza
Portland Trail Blazers.
Kevin Durant
Brooklyn Nets.
Kyrie Irving
Brooklyn Nets.
LaMarcus Aldridge
San Antonio Spurs.
Courtney Lee
Dallas Mavericks.
Kelly Oubre Jr.
Phoenix Suns.
Bojan Bogdanovic
Utah Jazz.
DeMarcus Cousins
Free Agent.
Avery Bradley
Los Angeles Lakers

NBA restart: Players who won’t play in Disney World

Watch: Steph Curry is back in the Warriors practice facility getting up shots

Although the Golden State Warriors aren’t heading to Orlando for the NBA restart, Stephen Curry is back in the practice facility working out.

With the NBA’s worst record, the Warriors won’t be competing in the league’s 22-team restart in Orlando. Although they won’t participate in the stretch run of the season, their practice facility is back open for business.

After a three-month closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, San Francisco’s Chase Center has opened its doors for individual player workouts. On Wednesday, the Warriors shared a video montage of Stephen Curry going through a shooting routine at Chase Center’s practice court.

Watch Curry’s shooting montage via @warriors on Twitter:

Grind now shine later. pic.twitter.com/8dEQxmQgE3

— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) June 17, 2020

When the Warriors reopened their practice facility in early June, Curry was among the first group of players in the building. Juan Toscano-Anderson, Damion Lee, Chasson Randle and Kevon Looney have also been spotted working out since the long-awaited reopening.

After missing a significant chunk of the season with a hand injury, Curry can use Golden State’s early offseason to shake off the rust and familiarize himself with his new group of teammates like Eric Paschall, Andrew Wiggins and Marquese Chriss.

While the Golden State Warriors won’t be hitting the court for game action anytime soon, a video of the two-time Most Valuable Player getting up some shots might be the next best thing.

NBA to test for performance-enhancing drugs, not recreational in Orlando

The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported on Monday that the league will indeed test for performance-enhancing drugs.

For at least a weekend, it looked like the NBA’s focus for testing at the Orlando campus would focus only on COVID-19. That led many to ask the question, will performance-enhancing drugs now be allowed? Well, it was clarified on Monday that no, in fact, they will not be.

The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported on Monday that the NBA will indeed test for PEDs during the restart of the season at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, but that the league will still not test players for recreational drugs. Also on Monday, Charlotte Hornets guard Malik Monk was reinstated after a violating the league’s anti-drug policy.

Sources: The NBA and NBPA have agreed to conduct performance-enhancing drug testing during resumed 2019-20 season in Orlando — but tests for recreational drugs will remain suspended.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 8, 2020

The Lakers have had several players get notable surprise drug tests over the past year, including Danny Green doing so after a rare dunk and Alex Caruso getting tested following a photoshopped photo of him looking very inflated. However, that means that those two, as well as the rest of the players in the bubble, should expect to be tested for performance-enhancing drugs. But while the league won’t be testing for recreational drugs such as cannabis, Florida is a medical-only state, meaning that only people with medical cards can have cannabis, while recreational possession remains criminalized.

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With NBA set to return, should Kevin Durant?

The NBA Board of Governors voted to approve a 22-team league restart plan in Orlando. Should Kevin Durant come back and play for the Nets?

On Thursday, the NBA Board of Governors voted to approve a 22-team league restart plan in Orlando, Florida according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The top eight teams from both the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference will travel to Florida, plus the Portland Trailblazers, New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs, Phoneix Suns, and the Washington Wizards.

Each team will play eight games to conclude the 2019-2020 regular season. From there on, a normal playoff schedule will be in place, with the top eight teams from each conference facing off.

Within the top eight teams of the Eastern Conference is the Brooklyn Nets. This offseason, Brooklyn signed two major free agents in former Duke star Kyrie Irving and former Longhorn Kevin Durant.

However, nobody has seen Durant in a Nets jersey yet, as he has been sidelined with a torn Achilles since Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals with the Golden State Warriors. The original plan was to have him sit out the entire season and return for the 2020-2021 season.

Now, with a nearly four-month layoff due to COVID-19, should Kevin Durant return to the Nets and attempt to help them win a championship this season?

As thing stand, Brooklyn is in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, sitting at a record of 30-34. They are six games behind the sixth-placed Philadelphia 76ers and six games ahead of the ninth-place Washington Wizards. The Nets are more or less a lock for the playoffs at this point.

Assuming all seeding remains the same after eight games, their first-round opponent would be the defending NBA Champions, the Toronto Raptors.

Durant is not the only injured star for Brooklyn, as Kyrie Irving underwent season-ending shoulder surgery back in February. As of now, the Nets are without two players they are paying a combined $70 million.

If Irving was healthy and Brooklyn was seen as a competitive force throughout the season, Durant could have considered coming back for the playoffs.

Without the superstar point guard, there is no point in rushing back, especially as a 7-seed. Assuming everything goes well, Durant should be able to be ready to go for the 2020-2021 NBA season.

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Damian Lillard says he won’t play if Blazers don’t have playoff pathway

Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard said that he won’t play for his team if the NBA doesn’t give them a shot to make the playoffs.

Over the weekend, the National Basketball Association confirmed their efforts to resume the NBA season at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. In addition to the public acknowledgement from the league office, the league has also been soliciting the opinions of their 30 general managers on the best possible formats, which include everything from concluding a shortened regular season or introducing a World Cup-style pool play first round before getting to the knockout stages, as reported on Tuesday by The Ringer. And like clockwork, we have our first NBA superstar threatening not to play if his team isn’t given an opportunity to be a part of a reformatted or expanded playoff format.

Portland Trail Blazers superstar guard Damian Lillard told Yahoo’s Chris Haynes on Tuesday that he will be with his team but will not play in games if the league’s solution is a shortened regular season where the Blazers don’t have a chance to make up a 3.5 game gap between them and Memphis for the 8th seed in the West. Not to mention that the New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings are tied with Portland in the standings, with the San Antonio Spurs being a 1/2 game behind those three squads. Lillard said that he would, however, love to play in an expanded playoff format.

“If we come back and I don’t have an opportunity to make the playoffs, I will show up to work, I’ll be at practice and I’ll be with my team. I’m going to do all that [expletive] and then I’m going to be sitting right on that bench during the games,” Lillard told Yahoo Sports. “If they come back and say it’s something like a tournament, play-in style, between the No. 7 and No. 12 seeds, if we’re playing for playoff spots, then I think that’s perfect.”

Lillard is the biggest star yet to suggest he may not play when the NBA restarts and is the first to lay-out what kind of format he hopes to see. With the NBA and commissioner Adam Silver still determining the kind of format we may see, Lillard’s stance puts a little pressure on the league to include the fringe playoff teams in the West.

Also, you’d have to think that adding some more star power with Lillard, as well as Pelicans star Zion Williamson, the NBA would have a more compelling television product as well.

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