NBA general managers and trainers will reportedly need a 30-day training period for players to get back in shape before games can begin.
There is reported concern rising among NBA general managers and athletic training staffers regarding the shape of the league’s players whenever the schedule does resume. Some sources have told ESPN that even when the league is ready to start again, they will need at least a 30-day training period.
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“But I need these guys pushing their bodies for at least 30 days prior to the first meaningful basketball game,” one general manager told ESPN’s Baxter Holmes. “And by meaningful basketball game, I mean a postseason game.”
“You’ll have [players] from one extreme to the other,” said an athletic training staff official. “So you’ve sort of just got to go with the mindset, ‘No one’s been training how they should be [and] everyone’s very out of shape.'”
Milwaukee Bucks Forward Khris Middleton explained how he’s been handling the time off during a phone call with reporters:
Since the practice facility is closed down, I don’t have any access to a basketball goal unless I go to one of my neighbors’ house to shoot outside. It’s really no basketball for me. Like Giannis [Antetokounmpo] said, it’s the treadmill, the jump rope, some weights and that’s it. I have a couple of basketballs I can just dribble in my house or outside, but no actual goal to go shoot on.
As of Sunday, there is no set return date for the NBA season.
[Via]
