Even amid a surging COVID-19 pandemic, the NBA went ahead with their plans to host the annual All-Star weekend this season.
As announced last month, the league is getting closer to officially scheduling their All-Star game on March 7th in Atlanta, which will include a skill competition and the traditional East vs. West matchup game.
Some fans have expressed excitement about the plans, but others aren’t so sure it’s a good idea. On his podcast, Bill Simmons of “The Ringer” explained why he’s against it…
“I am sorry Adam Silver but having an All-Star game this season is such a stupid idea. Having all the best players together in one place, you are bound to have someone breaking protocol. Can we just make sure have healthy players heading into playoff first?”
Naturally, the league has made it a priority to follow COVID-19 health and safety protocols. With routine testing, scheduling changes, and precautionary quarantine for potentially exposed players/teams, they clearly still see the Coronavirus as a threat — as they should.
But having all these players meet in a single location for the All-Star game seems counterintuitive to the safety measures they’ve been implementing this season.
If even one of them breaks protocol and becomes a carrier of the virus, it could jeopardize the entire league.
Considering how successful they’ve been in containing the spread of COVID-19 to this point, it’d be a shame if a major outbreak wrecked it all.
