CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ The NBA and its players association appreciate the plight of the eight teams _ including the Charlotte Hornets _ not part of the season restart near Orlando, Fla.
However, those eight teams won't get to practice or scrimmage this summer without the strictest health assurances in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Union executive director Michele Roberts said she wouldn't agree to "any return to play that doesn't have the same guarantees of safety and health" that the NBA will enforce on Disney's Florida campus to resume the season.
NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said he agrees with Roberts that the health-risk standard would have to be high to allow the Hornets and seven other teams not in the restart to either practice or scrimmage against each other.
The NBA will restart its season in late July with 22 of the 30 franchises. The Hornets, with a 23-42 record, just missed the cutoff for that restart. Players, coaches and officials will be sequestered for months in three Disney hotels to minimize risk of infection.
Hornets coach James Borrego argued passionately earlier this month that the eight teams not in Orlando should at least be allowed to practice in June to lessen a major competitive disadvantage.
"The amount of time they're spending with their teams and their players as a unit, we believe we should have the same. That would level the playing field a little bit more," Borrego said June 8 in a media conference call.
NBA teams aren't typically allowed to practice as a group in the offseason, other than a brief run-up to summer league that doesn't generally include veterans. These extreme circumstances _ a nine-month layoff, the first three months of which the players weren't allowed in practice facilities _ has those eight teams seeking remedies.
"For me it's more about the time that we have (to work with players and to scrimmage) _ that it syncs with what they're getting in Orlando," Borrego said. "And also the live play, which we don't get a lot in the summer."
Roberts said she appreciates the competitive concern.
"I think there are conversations that can be had about what, if anything, we can do with the eight other teams," Roberts said in response to a question from The Charlotte Observer. "I realize there are some players _ particularly young players _ who'd feel a concern they aren't getting enough run."
Tatum said discussions will continue.
"We know it's something that our teams would love to do, some of the players would love to do, but as Michele said, in the right way," Tatum said. "We're continuing to have conversations with Michele and her team about what that looks like."
