The NBA is preparing to resume its 2019-20 season, but some players are worried about the health risks that come with the resumption.
The league reportedly has tried to address that, attempting to help ease fears with a new “enhanced” insurance plan for players who will travel to the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla., according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The plan would cover career-ending injuries either related to COVID-19 or typical basketball injuries. The potential policy could cover players upwards of “several million dollars,” per Woj.
NBA and NBPA have agreed to put into place an enhanced insurance plan for players in Orlando that would cover career-ending injuries related to Covid-19 or conventional basketball injuries, sources tell ESPN. Potential group policy would cover players for several million dollars.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 23, 2020
Health and safety protocols surrounding COVID-19 have been a major sticking point for players as the league looks to resume. And while soft-tissue injuries are among the biggest basketball-related injuries players are worried about, it’s the coronavirus that could pose the biggest threat to the players and the season.
One Western Conference playoff contender reportedly had four positive coronavirus tests in the past few weeks, according to Woj. Players are required to follow proper quarantine procedures once they return a positive test, a major point of concern for teams not guaranteed a spot in the playoffs prior to the resumption of the season.
It's a bigger concern for non-guaranteed playoff teams to lose players to extended quarantine before Orlando. Playoff teams worried less about needing key players for seeding games in August have more time to get players back to shape. All are worried about soft-tissue injuries. https://t.co/gp77boedso
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 23, 2020
The hope here, as Woj noted, is that players that test positive for COVID-19 now and in the future will have little to no symptoms, and many already have. But while young people are less likely to get severely ill from the virus, there’s no guarantee players will experience mild symptoms or even be asymptomatic should they contract it.
In the end, however, anything is possible, and the NBA isn’t willing to chance that.
