As the NBA continues to weigh its options around a possible return-to-play scenario this summer, it’s looking more and more likely that players will descend upon Orlando’s Disney World to play out the 2019-20 season until a champion is crowned.
First on the schedule for most teams is reportedly a two-week training camp in each team’s city, followed by a second training camp at the quarantined playing site before games would resume.
But the idea of two separate training camps per team isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution — and Toronto is an interesting case.
The Raptors reportedly requested permission last week to go straight to the quarantined training camp destination in the U.S. rather than having all players return first to Toronto. NBA insider Shams Charania believes that’s an “easy solution” for what could be a complicated process for the NBA’s lone club north of the border.
“Just to make the logistics easier, I think once the NBA decides and finalizes return to play … if teams like the Raptors and Celtics prefer to just go to the playing site and have their training camp in quarantine there, I think that the NBA would allow and work with the teams to be able to ensure that,” Charania said during a conversation Monday on Good Show.
(The Boston Celtics have yet to open their facilities, as the state of Massachusetts continues to follow strict stay-at-home guidelines, and many of their players returned to their hometowns outside the state.)
While some Raptors have remained in Toronto throughout the league-directed quarantine period, many others decided to return to off-season homes in the United States to wait out the hiatus.
Returning to Toronto for a team training camp would require an additional two-week quarantine in accordance with Canadian health officials — which would take away from athletes’ abilities to participate in conditioning and training during that time. Crossing the U.S.-Canada border, only to cross it again to attend a second training camp, doesn’t make a lot of logistical sense.
“I think an easy solution — and I think one that the NBA would work on — is allowing them to go straight to the playing site,” Charania said.
Raptors who have remained in Toronto have recently been able to begin private workouts after the Ontario government eased restrictions earlier in May to allow the OVO Athletic Centre in Toronto to re-open for voluntary individual on-court sessions, with strict guidelines in place.
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