News Roundup: NBA to Help Provide Free COVID-19 Testing

The NBA season officially restarts on Thursday after suspending play in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic. Before games tip off, let’s check in on what’s happening around the league:

• The league has announced that it will help provide free COVID-19 testing in Orlando, Florida, as well as “team markets nationwide” through the month of August:

“Public health data has made clear that the impacts of the coronavirus are most concentrated in historically marginalized communities of color where access to testing is scarce. To meet this need, the NBA collaborated with UnidosUS and the National Urban League as well as several private laboratories to identify communities most in need and provide access to no-cost testing programs in addition to communicating public health information to community members.”

• NBA commissioner Adam Silver noted during an appearance on Good Morning America that the Disney World bubble would “cease completely” if there is a widespread COVID-19 outbreak among players (via Bill DiFilippo of Dime UPROXX):

“Probably if we had any significant spread at all, we’d immediately stop, and one thing we’d do is try to track those significant cases to determine where they’re coming from and whether there has been spread on the campus,” Silver said. “I would say, ultimately, we would cease completely if we saw that this was spreading around the campus and something more than isolated cases was happening.”

• The Memphis Grizzlies will be without guard Tyus Jones for at least a week as he deals with knee soreness, the team announced Wednesday.
• Former New York Knicks head coach Mike Woodson is expected to rejoin the organization in some capacity, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
• Pat Connaughton and Eric Bledsoe will miss the Milwaukee Bucks’ first seeding game on Friday as they work themselves back into game shape following their positive tests for the coronavirus, as detailed by Eric Woodyard of ESPN.

Thursday’s first seeding game features the Jazz versus the Pelicans, followed by a matchup between the Lakers and Clippers.