NBA pushes plan to reopen facilities until May 8 at earliest

MIAMI (AP) — The NBA has pushed back plans that would allow teams to reopen their practice facilities for at least one week, and cautioned that the new target is far from set in stone.

The earliest that teams can reopen for voluntary player workouts is now May 8, the NBA said Monday — and that would only be the case in places where local and state laws made such a move permissible.

And when those facilities
are open, the rules will be very different: A person with direct
knowledge of the league’s plans told The Associated Press that players
will have to wear face masks when in the facility, except when they are
actually working out. Staff members would have to wear face masks and
gloves at all times, said the person who spoke to AP on condition of
anonymity because those details were not publicly announced.

Other
restrictions when facilities reopen will include a limit of four
players at a facility at any time, no group activities will be permitted
and no head coaches or assistant coaches can be involved in the
workouts.

The NBA suspended the season March 11. It ordered teams
to shutter their facilities eight days later, saying at the time it was
doing so “in light of the rapidly-developing coronavirus situation, and
consistent with evolving advice from health experts regarding how to
promote individual and public health while minimizing the spread of the
virus.”