Coronavirus: NBA outlines plans to open practice facilities

New York, April 28: As some parts of the United States begin to peel back some of their shelter-in-place orders amid the coronavirus pandemic, the NBA has targeted no earlier than May 8 for teams to open their practice facilities.

The league sent a memo to teams on Monday (April 27) outlining plans for them to open their complexes in safe and controlled environments.

According to the stipulations set by the league, only four players would be permitted at a facility at a time, no coaches would be allowed participate and no kind of practices or scrimmages could be held. Players also remain prohibited from using non-team facilities.

These rule changes also only pertain to those franchises that reside in a city rescinding its stay-at-home orders. For those teams in cities that still have social-distancing restrictions in place, the league said it will work with the club to develop an alternative.

While the league pegged May 8 as a possible date for facilities to open, that date could be pushed back depending on the COVID-19 outlook.

Before the league contacted teams, Atlanta Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk said earlier on Monday (April 27) he had no plans to open the team’s complex on Friday (April 24), the first day it was being reported that the NBA could open some facilities.

The state of Georgia is loosening some of its restrictions, but Schlenk would prefer to see how things play out.

“We currently have no plans to open our facility on Friday,” Schlenk said.

“Obviously the state is going to start opening up, but let’s see what happens before we open up. The last thing you want to do is have the state open up and have a second wave come through, so we’re going to see how the state reacts to being open first before we make any decisions about our facility.”