Isolating Within Isolation
It could be a lonely experience.
Players and staffers are not allowed to visit each other’s hotel rooms. They can use the pools, trails, and golf courses on campus, and can socialize in their hotels’ “players’ lounges”—but not without restrictions.
No doubles in ping-pong (I would like to see who enforces this and how).
No using the same pack of cards twice. It’s oddly specific given the league is also allowing its players to play in enclosed gyms without masks, breathe on each other, touch the same ball, yell to their teammates, and speak in huddles. (Did you know that speaking loudly for one minute can emit more than
1,000 virus-containing droplets, and those droplets can travel
beyond 6 feet?)
It’s very clear the NBA wants this to be fun—or to distract its players from the fact that it’s not fun at all. The league is
planning on providing movie screenings, DJ sets, three freshly prepared meals a day (four on game days!), boating, bowling, fishing, golf,
and the availability of barbers, manicurists, pedicurists, and hair braiders. A “limited number” of players can also attend other teams’ games along with media, executives, league and union personnel,
and “even some sponsors.” From a safety perspective, inviting sponsors raises issues (the protocol says they’ll have no direct contact with players or teams); from a monetary standpoint, it’s another way to mitigate the losses already suffered from a postponed season. (That could be repeated for much of this entire endeavor.)
The protocol also says that while the players are at Disney,
they will not be tested for recreational drugs. (Performance-enhancing drugs and masking agents, yes; the fun stuff, no.) Players were “
advised” that Florida has not legalized marijuana use.
https://www.theringer.com/nba/2020/6/22/21298581/nba-safety-disney-world-campus-guidelines