Report: The NBA Might Attempt Regional Bubbles During The 2020-21 Season

NBA Players Association Executive Director Michele Roberts has made it clear that, unless the United States’ bungled handling of the COVID-19 pandemic changes, the league might need to play the 2020-21 campaign in a bubble. Obviously this would a gigantic headache for the league — both because of the sheer logistical nightmare that would come from tossing 30 teams into a bubble and the loss of gate revenue from playing fan-less games — but according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the league is considering an idea that takes this concept and decentralizes it.

Via ESPN:

This time, ideas center on regional sites and windows of participation that would extend a month for teams, sources said. After that, teams would go home and train — perhaps for two weeks — and move onto the next regional bubble against a new pod of teams. Orlando is a consideration, and Las Vegas — a finalist for this summer’s restart — would reemerge as a possible site too, sources said.

An idea in this vein sounds somewhat similar to what NHL is doing with its restart, where 24 teams were divided into bubbles in Toronto and Edmonton. Of course, the NBA would then take this idea a little further, using them as ways to play out the entire season with all 30 teams and giving squads the opportunity to shuffle around and travel from one place to the next. While not everywhere is able to be turned into the ideal sort of home for basketball like Disney has been so far, the fact that only a handful of teams would go down instead of the 22 that are currently in the bubble would assuredly make the task of figuring out lodging and facilities easier.

Still, the concept of multiple bubbles to hold games is hardly new. The NBA has plenty of time to figure out how this can work — Wojnarowski mentioned that while the league’s telling teams it plans to start on Dec. 1, there are scenarios in which starting the 2020-21 campaign could be pushed as late as March if fans can safely attend games, something that has been reported in the past.

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