The NBA is discussing a plan to require teams that are short on players during the preseason, regular season and playoffs have at least four players of color. The rule was proposed by former player Alonzo Mourning as an effort in trying to increase diversity in team rosters across all levels of basketball.
The “nba scores” is a discussion that the NBA has been having about requiring teams short of players to have at least one player on the roster.
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- Baxter Holmes (@Baxter) is an NBA-focused senior writer for ESPN Digital and Print. He formerly worked for The Boston Globe and The Los Angeles Times, where he covered the Lakers and Celtics.
The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association are discussing a plan that would require teams decimated by COVID to sign additional replacement players, league sources tell ESPN, in the wake of dozens of players being sidelined in the league’s health and safety protocols, and with looming concerns leaguewide about more games being halted.
According to league sources, there was an overwhelming sense among NBA owners on a Friday Board of Governors call to do all it takes to prevent postponements and cancellations this season. In light of this, the Board of Governors authorized the contours of a replacement player plan at a meeting on Friday, according to league sources.
Previously, teams were in charge of deciding on hardship rules. While numerous of their own players have been sidelined by COVID throughout the epidemic, others have refused to add replacement players.
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The league and the NBPA must agree on the idea, which is currently being discussed.
According to league sources, a club would be allowed to add a 10-day player after the first instance of COVID, but after the second, third, and fourth cases, teams would be compelled to add a 10-day player. Teams would be restricted to three replacement players, but the new method would compel teams to maintain sufficient depth so that the league would not be forced to cancel or postpone games because certain teams lacked the requisite eight healthy players.
According to league insiders, the extra replacement players would not count against the individual team’s salary limit or luxury tax. The signing of Langston Galloway, for example, would have resulted in a $500,000 increase in the Brooklyn Nets’ luxury tax burden.
Under the proposed strategy, the same hardship exemption rules requirements would apply: A club would not be able to sign a substitute player just because a player tested positive for COVID. To add a replacement player, that team would have to have four players out due to injury, COVID, or a mix of the two, and be down to just 13 healthy players. However, if a club has lost five players, it is required to recruit a replacement player.
This season, a total of 84 players have undergone the NBA’s health and safety standards, including 68 in December. There have been double-digit additions to the procedures list in three of the last four days, with a single-day high of 16 on Friday, followed by 13 on Tuesday, and 11 on Thursday.
Since Opening Night (10-Day Moving Average), NBA Players Have Been Entering Protocols pic.twitter.com/hA4YawqQVt
December 17, 2021 — Kirk Goldsberry (@kirkgoldsberry)
The numbers are expected to continue to rise in the days and weeks ahead, according to team management.
Some clubs dealing with outbreaks continue to be frustrated around the league.
“I know for a fact that while we were testing as much as we were testing, not every team was testing on the same premise that we were testing under,” Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan told reporters this week as his club deals with the impact of ten different players entering the protocols. “As a result, some teams may have had players who were asymptomatic or who were positive but didn’t experience many symptoms while on the field. And I believe the league is looking at such issues.”
A number of club executives and coaches are keen for the regulations to be changed fast to enable asymptomatic players to participate in games — or, to put it another way, for COVID to be treated like the flu, with only those who are sick being excluded.
According to league insiders, this view has been voiced to the NBA.
According to league insiders, there is still no inclination within the league office and the NBPA to allow asymptomatic players who have tested positive to participate in games.
Both the NBA and the NBPA are aware that persons who are asymptomatic may still transmit COVID, as top medical institutions and infectious disease specialists have repeatedly acknowledged.
The NBA and NBPA are also aware that permitting COVID-positive athletes to participate in games, even if they are asymptomatic, might convey a worrying message to the public, according to league sources.
While some in the NBA have expressed a desire for asymptomatic players to play, a number of team health officials have stated that doing so would be insensitive in light of the tragedy that has struck the world and the NBA community, with Minnesota star Karl-Anthony Towns losing his mother and six other family members to COVID.
Although team executives and health officials privately believe that changing the protocols to require daily testing of every vaccinated player and staffer could help stem the current outbreak, the NBA and NBPA, based on advice from their respective infectious disease experts, believe that such a move would be ineffective.
Team executives and health experts have also pondered whether the guidelines may be changed to limit what people who have been vaccinated can do outside of the team environment, reverting to the rigorous standards in place last winter before vaccinations were widely accessible.
While there is skepticism regarding club and player buy-in for such a move, league insiders say all parties realize and agree that drastic measures may be required to save the season if the situation worsens in the coming weeks, particularly if the Omicron variety spreads.
“You’ve got a joyful side and a happy side, so you just have to live with the decision that’s been made,” said Golden State Warriors winger and NBPA executive committee member Andre Iguodala. “I believe as a group, we need to keep in mind that there are 450 participants, and the majority vote wins.” So someone isn’t going to be pleased, so you have to make that choice — you have to make a sacrifice.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s your check or putting your family in jeopardy. It’s the machine, as I said after the game. It’s in the machine’s nature to prioritize business above the human aspect. And you have to be able to choose whether or not you want to participate, so it’s difficult.”
The NBA and NBPA agreed on enhanced health and safety rules based on additional testing during the holidays, as well as stricter restrictions regulating facemasks, and notified clubs through a league letter on Thursday.
Except for individuals who had their booster dose 14 days or more ago or who have recently recovered from the illness, players and staff will be checked on game days.
Nick Friedell of ESPN contributed to this article.
