The consequences of the coronavirus crisis are now visible in the league. Not only because of the bubble and all the maneuvers the league had to do to get everything set for 22 teams to travel to Orlando and play for the NBA championship.
While everybody is getting ready for the NBA return, the Orlando Magic had to make a hateful decision due to the whole situation. They had to lay off 31 employees because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Orlando Magic writer John Denton reported on Saturday morning that the team was cutting a big chunk of their staff because of COVID-19-related cutbacks. Denton was one of the people who lost his job after spending 10 years with the team.
Former NBA coach Stan Van Gundy reacted to the news, explaining this was inevitable since the family that owns the team couldn’t keep paying all their employees.
“These layoffs just couldn’t be avoided. The DeVos family that owns the Magic only has a net worth of about $5 BILLION. They just couldn’t afford to continue to pay all of their employees,” he wrote on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/realStanVG/status/1284569085263699968
This is a serious situation; people’s lives are at stake here, not only because of the disease per se but also the jobs that could be gone if the situation doesn’t get any better. The Magic already suffered that and one wonders which team is next.
Playing at the bubble will give some relief to these teams but that won’t solve the whole problem. It’s hard to see so many people losing their jobs but that shows how far the situation has gone.
