The Los Angeles Lakers have been informed of new policies put into place by the NBA in response to the coronavirus.
The Los Angeles Lakers 2019-20 season was put on hold after the NBA suspended the regular season on Wednesday night.
Things have been hectic since. The NCAA Tournament was canceled, as all winter and spring championships were canceled. The NBA was only suspended with hopes of things continuing at a later date, but they will see how things progress in the coming weeks.
The NBA already announced that they will re-evaluate the suspension in 30 days. However, there still needed to be precautions and regulations put in for the teams and players for up until that point. Now, some of those have been put into place.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, the NBA has informed all the teams on policies that are effective immediately through March 16th.
Players have to remain in the market of their team. So, for the Lakers, none of the players can leave Los Angeles. The NBA wants teams to remain at home as long as possible as well. Workouts and practices in groups are not allowed and the players will be talked to by a team physician and trainer once a day.
The NBA has informed all 30 teams on policies effective immediately and through March 16, including:
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 12, 2020
- All players must remain in market of team
- Players remain home as long as possible
- NO group workouts, practices
- Team physicians/trainers speak to each player once a day
This changes some of the plans that the Lakers had implemented after the suspension on Wednesday. At that time, there was nothing scheduled, but the team had said that players were welcome to come to the facility for treatment if they wanted. Employees of the team were asked to stay at home, however.
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Keeping players as isolated as possible is the right route to take. Containing this virus and limiting the number of people exposed to it should be the No.1 priority not only for the Lakers and NBA but everyone.
So far, there have been two confirmed cases of Coronavirus in the NBA. Rudy Gobert was the first player to test positive for it. His teammate, Donovan Mitchell, was the second player to test positive for the virus.
The Lakers were scheduled to play against the Utah Jazz next week, on March 16th and 18th, in a home-and-home.
Numerous teams have started to self-quarantine. The Toronto Raptors are among those teams, as they played against Gobert, Mitchell and the Jazz on Monday, March 9th. The Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons will also be doing self-quarantine, as they have played against the Jazz within the last 10 days.
This is a very fluid situation, one that will continue to be updated in the coming days and weeks.