The NBA had 48 positive tests for COVID-19 out of the 546 players tested from Nov. 24 to Nov. 30 during the "initial round of tests for players as they returned to their teams' markets ahead of the start of individual workouts Tuesday," according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN.com. While the league's positive test rate of 8.8% in its initial testing is "lower than the national average of 10.2% over the same time frame, it also is significantly higher than the 5.3% rate (16 out of 302) during the same return-to-market period in late June before play at the bubble in Orlando," where 46 players in total "tested positive for the coronavirus in the weeks leading up to and upon initially arriving" (ESPN.com, 12/2). THE ATHLETIC's David Aldridge wrote it is "not the way the NBA wants to start the season, especially in comparison" to the bubble (THEATHLETIC.com, 12/2).
RUTS IN THE ROAD AHEAD: In Toronto, Doug Smith writes the NBA season is "going to be a bumpy and scary ride that the league, its players and its teams are going to take us on." There will "undoubtedly be more positive tests, and more voices will emerge to question the league’s ability to pull this off." Those "are givens." Still, the league "should absolutely go ahead with plans as they are today and live with the consequences to competitive balance or scheduling or whatever they may be" (TORONTO STAR, 12/3).
