Will the NBA and Disney continue this relationship after this season?
The NBA’s quarantine campus at Walt Disney World went better than anyone could have imagined.
The league didn’t see a single positive test after its initial quarantine period after players, coaches and staff all traveled down to Orlando, Fla. to isolate collectively from the threat of COVID-19.
With the experiment soon coming to an end, folks at Disney reportedly are hopeful they’ll be able to host the NBA on-site again in the future.
Speaking with NESN on Monday, NBA writer Keith Smith said another bubble similar to this one isn’t likely to ever happen again. But that doesn’t mean the league won’t pack its bags and head back to Disney in the future.
“Disney is hopeful that what they showed the NBA is, ‘If you need us for something, we’re here,'” Smith revealed. “And in addition to that, for years now under Adam Silver’s leadership, there’s been talk of some form of a mid-season tournament or something like that in Disney.”
“Their hope is they’ve proven that if the NBA wants to pack everyone up in January or February in a normal-type season, and bring them all to sunny Florida and have them all here for a week or two and play a mid-season tournament, Disney would love to host it. And I think they’ve absolutely proven that they can pull this off.”
Smith would know, as he worked for Disney for almost 20 years. He actually proposed Disney as the NBA’s restart venue in the first place.
We’ll see if this becomes a fun tradition in the future.