One of the various proposals floated to potentially allow for the resumption of the NBA season was to have players stay together in a single site as a sort of “bubble” strategy. Proposals included bringing players to Las Vegas or Disney World in order to finish the season.
These strategies never got off the ground in part because many players disliked them. According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, both NBPA head Michele Roberts and commissioner Adam Silver heard significant negative feedback about the idea. Players were willing to back the idea if it could be guaranteed no one would be infected, but without surveillance, they felt it was not worth the risk and the requirement to separate from family for an extended period of time.
Roberts also disliked the plan, saying it sounded like “incarceration.”
Similar plans have been floated in other sports, but have failed to gain support for similar reasons. Several MLB players voiced opposition to the sport’s own bubble plan, and unsurprisingly, it looks like it won’t be implemented now. The same is true in the NBA.
