Twitter and Instagram screenshots
BASKET – As a symbol, it is the French Rudy Gobert who could be the first NBA player to touch up a ball in an official match this Thursday, July 30. His Utah Jazz team faces the New Orleans Pelicans at 12:30 a.m. Thursday to Friday night in France. The French international, the championship’s best defender, tested positive for coronavirus on March 12, pushing the prestigious North American basketball championship to suspend its season in stride.
It has been 140 days since a match has been played. The time for the league to organize its recovery to the millimeter, locking the basketball players, coaches and staff of 22 teams in a “bubble” on the side of Disney World in Orlando, Florida. A closed space in which the future champions – if the season ends in October of course – will have spent more than three months.
Luxury concierge
“We’re pissed off !!!”. And in this golden bubble, there are those who are bored, as shouts the French rear of Orlando Evan Fournier, and those who are used to confined life. It’s been almost three weeks since the stars of the orange ball have taken up residence in the luxurious ESPN World wide Sport complex.
The delegations of the 22 teams, approximately 35 people per club, players included, stay in three hotels. Away from his family, each remained in quarantine in his room for the first 48 hours, the time to undergo two negative tests for Covid-19, before being authorized to reconnect with his microcosm.
Aware of the void to be filled outside of training sessions and friendlies, the League provided players with activities almost 24 hours a day. A concierge service allows them to reserve access to swimming pools, golf courses, to the tennis courts … to rent bikes. Video games or card rooms have been set up. These possibilities are also offered via an application specially developed to make their life at Mickey’s house easier and also allow them to have food delivered.
Mickey waffles, but no duck on the menu
The question of meals quickly fueled the discussions. Disgruntled players, like Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers), did not hesitate to show photos of their meal trays during the imposed quarantine. Others said they were satisfied, such as Myers Leonard (Miami Heat) showing off his Mickey-shaped waffles.
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meyers leonard is having Mickey Mouse waffles ???? #bubbleeatspic.twitter.com/HhEIxgHxtA
— NBA Bubble Life (@NBABubbleLife) July 10, 2020
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From now on, they have the right to meals prepared in collaboration with their staffs and dieticians, bringing them back to relative normality. “There’s just no duck at dinner because Boris Diaw doesn’t do the menus,” joked Orlando Magic player Evan Fournier on Twitter.
“If we are talking about a five star restaurant, it is not. But if we are talking about good food that we enjoy eating, yes it is, ”said Alvin Gentry, the New Orleans coach enjoying eating“ in biodegradable containers, which is very smart ” .
So what does a typical day at Disney look like, far from attractions closed to the public, coronavirus requires? “I got up, I got tested, I went to lunch, I played video games, I spent a little time with my teammates, I trained, I came back, we ate, always with my teammates, then new video games, again with my teammates. A big, busy day, ”said Quinn Cook of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Ass-dry and bags of corn
On social networks, videos are popping up showing players killing time in a good mood, such as JJ Redick (New Orleans) having fun drinking beer cans up and down like at college.
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For their part, the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder are hosting cornhole (throwing bags of corn kernels into the hole of an inclined board, with a pledge in the key for the losers), the Celtics play beach volleyball, while Enes Kanter and Marcus Smart do not have furious swimming races.
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“League sources say that Chris Paul is nervous” ????????????@CP3 | @BazleyDarius | @shaiglalexpic.twitter.com/tPImgr29uI
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) July 10, 2020
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The Denver Nuggets have also invested the pool to train. “We can never strengthen the idea of ’us’ enough,” said coach Michael Malone, seeing it as a way to strengthen ties. To chase away boredom, others opt for golf or fishing, like Paul George, the Los Angeles Clippers winger.
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A “damn” resort, But there is worse
There are also those who keep a logbook, like JaVale McGee of the Los Angeles Lakers, who films, edits and broadcasts videos of his “Life in the Bubble” on YouTube almost daily.
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Many players have put things into perspective, such as Steven Adams (Oklahoma City Thunder) for whom “It’s not Syria, either”. “It’s not that hard as some say. We live in a damn resort. Everyone complains, has their own preferences, but that’s not much. ”
“From time to time we get bored, but it’s okay. There are times when it’s pretty cool because you can chat with players from other teams, ”he said.
Here is precisely a positive aspect: getting to know yourself better, wedging your bubble in that of others and developing social ties, which the rest of the population is deprived of in the current context of a galloping pandemic. It remains to be seen whether the evolution of the epidemic will allow the season to come to an end, and especially if the players will still experience isolation as well in a few weeks.
See also on Le HuffPost: Rudy Gobert, tested positive for coronavirus, apologizes for his bad joke
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