Over a year after the NBA suspended the infamous 2019/20 season and sent everybody to the uncomfortable Orlando bubble, the COVID-19 is messing things up again around the association.
Right now, over 40 players (which is about 10% of the rosters) have entered the league’s health and safety protocols, which has set the alarms around the competition. This was totally unexpected by the league and they have tightened the measures to protect players, coaches, staffers, and the public in general.
It’s unclear if the holidays are playing a major role in this recent spike, but nobody is happy with the ongoing situation. Joel Embiid, for example, had some harsh words when discussing the recent cases. The big man said that things have changed in the last year when everybody was very careful with everything, contrary to what happens now.
We all got to protect each other. Whether it’s wearing masks, making sure whatever you do outside of basketball, that you think about your teammates, their family or your own family. It does suck. But from the beginning, you know, even when it hit us I was mad because I thought last year there was great precautions in place and this year it was just all over the place and I just thought it was unprofessional and that’s where we are now.
Joel Embiid on increase in NBA COVID cases:
"I thought last year there was great precautions in place and this year it was just all over the place and I just thought it was unprofessional and that's where we are now."
Full quote below: pic.twitter.com/6lTPtm0aGy
— Yaron Weitzman (@YaronWeitzman) December 17, 2021
Every day we learn about a new player entering the health and safety protocols. League officials and head coaches have asked their players to be extremely careful, but that has been ineffective so far. Many players are in quarantine right now, hurting their teams’ chances to win games, putting them in a complex position.
We hope that everything gets solved soon and the league returns to the time where not a single player tested positive for COVID-19.
