Several states are starting to loosen restrictions in place due to the novel coronavirus, and that means that some NBA teams could soon be back in the practice gym.
One of those teams is the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“In Cleveland, team officials phoned Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to ask if guidelines from the governor (Mike DeWine) would allow for the Cavs to open their facility to players? General businesses can open on May 4, but ‘gyms’ are to remain closed,” Sam Amick and Joe Vardon of The Athletic wrote. “The answer from Husted was ‘yes,’ multiple DeWine administration members said, the Cavs could let their players work out at team headquarters.”
While it looks as though Cavs players could legally be back in the team’s gym as soon as early May, the team itself has reportedly yet to make a final decision on how it will proceed.
“At least some teams that can open facilities, including the Cavs and Nuggets, are still working through decisions of whether or not to do it,” they wrote.
Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff expanded on the team’s thought process at the moment.
“Our thing now becomes grasping an idea of how much longer this is going to be, and then what it looks like for the guys when they get back,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said in a phone call with The Athletic. “I mean, is it something that you do every day, is it something every other day? So it’s trying to give everybody a routine. And the way that the gym space can be used, it’s gonna be difficult for everybody to get in every day, just because of the hours and the spacing and all those things. So those things we have to finish discussing and put that plan in place.”
Despite the news that NBA teams will soon be allowed to return to the practice, it is clear that there is still a long road ahead before the 2019-20 season can pick back up.
Regardless, after well over a month of no basketball, this seems to be a good indication that things are moving in the right direction.
