Milwaukee Bucks close their practice facility after receiving results of Friday's coronavirus tests
Matt Velazquez Milwaukee Journal SentinelOver the past few weeks, the Milwaukee Bucks have been utilizing their practice facility for individual workouts ahead of the NBA's planned restart at the end of July. Those workouts ramped up last week as all of the team's players returned to Milwaukee for scheduled, socially distanced workouts.
Now, it's unlikely those workouts will continue.
The Bucks shut down their practice facility Sunday after receiving the results of Friday's coronavirus testing, according to a league official familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. The team still plans to leave for Orlando on Thursday, but it isn't expected to hold any more workouts before that time.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN was first to report this news.
Although the team has not released any details regarding the practice facility's closure, the presumption is that one or more members of the organization – players, coaches or staff – have tested positive for COVID-19. The Bucks join the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers and Miami Heat on the list of teams whose practice facilities are closed. The Brooklyn Nets recently re-opened their facility after it, too, had been shuttered.
While the closure of Milwaukee's practice facility is not a positive development, it is also not necessarily a major negative when it comes to basketball ramifications. The league-best Bucks have more than three weeks before their season is scheduled to resume with a July 31 games against the Boston Celtics, meaning any member or members of the organization who may have tested positive for COVID-19 could have time to recover and return to action.
Additionally, the Bucks have all but locked up the No. 1 seeding in the East, giving added time to any affected individuals to recover before meaningful playoff games occur.
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According to the NBA's guidelines surrounding the season restart, any player who tests positive for coronavirus must immediately quarantine and must have two negative tests before joining his team in Orlando.
However, basketball is not the most important aspect of this situation. Any positive test means a person involved with the team is dealing with the novel coronavirus that has resulted in about 3 million cases and 132,000 deaths in the United States alone over the first half of the year. It also means there may be other people – their families, friends, neighbors or even strangers – who could have contracted the disease.
There is no telling how any person will handle the disease, meaning a single positive test could ultimately yield dire results on a wider scale.
There have been positive coronavirus tests across the NBA over the past few weeks, which was expected when the league hatched its plan to resume its season. Despite those positive tests and facility closures, the expectation is that plan will continue, with the Bucks still playing a part and going to Orlando as scheduled.
“There’s definitely going to be some type of caution with this virus out there wherever we’re at nowadays," Khris Middleton said after a workout on Friday. "I think the way the NBA has set up this bubble it’s going to protect us better than being out and about, I feel like. There’s so many testing requirements, so many visitor requirements, stuff like that where not just anybody can come in and out and visit.
"I don’t think guys are extremely scared of going down to Orlando because of the virus, but we’re definitely cautious a little bit, which I think everybody has to be.”
Follow the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Matt Velazquez on Twitter @Matt_Velazquez.
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