FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ The NBA, perhaps more than any major sport, has made sure that its players are viewed as much as people as athletes.
We've seen Dwyane Wade share a father's love with his transgender daughter, LeBron James refuse to just shut up and dribble, Chris Bosh push through blood clots and retirement to emerge as the most interesting man in just about any room.
And that was just the Miami Heat's Big Three.
We've seen Udonis Haslem help feed the needy through pandemic, Solomon Hill coordinate Black Lives Matter rallies in Los Angeles, Andre Iguodala promote his Zoom investment as a means to bring the quarantined together.
And that is just this season's Heat roster.
So for all the guidelines put together for an NBA quarantined restart, consider, first, player as person. Then consider that for those who advance to the second round of the postseason, it means two months without direct contact with family members.
Time lost as a father, husband, son.
During this fractured Heat season, coach Erik Spoelstra missed a game for the birth of his second son, while Jimmy Butler missed two games for the birth of his daughter and another two games to be at the side of an ailing family member.
Each was embraced upon return. Family first.
Now comes the NBA's attempt to return in a "bubble" type of setting starting in July at the Wide World of Sports complex on the Disney World campus. Amid the new coronavirus pandemic, it is an extreme measure for an extreme time.
Violate the bubble, and an automatic 10-day quarantine is required to return to play.
Yet put 374 players together (17 from each of the 22 returning teams) and what are the chances there won't be a child, spouse, sibling, parent in need of attention elsewhere, just as Spoelstra and Butler had to step away?
Not talking curfew violation, but, rather personhood.
Take, for example, the case of former Heat forward Amar'e Stoudemire, who, at 37, is playing in the Israeli League.
As part of that league's planned June 20 restart, players have been told to quarantine for two months.
Stoudemire made it clear from the outset that he would act otherwise, posting on Instagram:
"Just got the word that the Winner League is asking all players to stay home for two months while everyone else (staff, and the entire country) can enjoy the beautiful summer of Israel. I'm a single parent who has to take care of my son (food, school, afterschool activities). There's no chance I'm staying home for two months. I was here in Israel for the entire quarantine (COVID -19). I follow every rule. Now we players are getting punished for that. Sorry. I can't do it."
Friday, EuroHoops reported that Stoudemire had broken quarantine, visiting a nearby mall while wearing facial protection.
His team, Maccabi Tel Aviv, was fined 30,000 Israeli shekels (about $8,600 U.S.), later issuing a statement that read:
"Amar'e Stoudemire is a single parent living with his son. We saw the photos where he was seen shopping at a shopping center adjacent to his residence with a mask on his face. According to the guidelines, Amare is not allowed to go outside and shop and this is a violation of the guidelines. Players must adhere to the rules and the club severely considers any directive violation. All players must follow the rules.
"It is worth mentioning that the team conducted its second COVID-19 test yesterday. Amar'e tested negative to the virus by the results we got this morning."
Granted, the temptations of Orlando are significantly reduced from Las Vegas, which had been the early front-runner to host the NBA's resumption. But isolation can weigh on anyone, athlete or otherwise.
And it seemingly would weigh heaviest at this moment, amid historic protests against police brutality and racial injustice, the subject of a players conference call Friday that now has the entire plan somewhat in doubt.
For their part, the Heat _ like many teams _ have a consulting agreement with a sports psychologist. It is an arrangement that could prove essential amid the planned isolation in coming weeks and months.
But that doesn't mean the bubble still can't burst. And if it does, it could be as simple as a player choosing to first be a person, someone playing for something more than just a game.
Which, in many ways, is what the NBA has come to be about.
