The NBA has clarified timelines for the beginning of training camp, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports, with players expected to report to their home market by Nov. 30 for COVID-19 testing.
According to Charania, any player who tests negative for COVID-19 three times will then be permitted to begin individual workouts in team facilities from Dec. 1-5. Group workouts will begin sometime between Dec. 4-6 depending on when players arrive.
This timeline further adds to the pressure the Toronto Raptors already face, as the club remains in limbo over where it will play home games. Team president Massai Ujiri has been publically lobbying for the team to remain in Toronto, but with COVID-19 cases rising on both sides of the border, backup plans that could see the team playing out of a U.S. based city are also being developed.
“I don’t know what to tell [my client]” an agent for one Raptors player told Sportsnet’s Michael Grange. “He’s pretty particular about his living arrangements and likes to have all that stuff figured out well in advance but right now the team isn’t saying anything and so we just have to wait. I’m going to hire a realtor in Tampa tomorrow just in case.”
On Tuesday, Grange reported the Raptors would be holding a mini-camp in Los Angeles from Nov. 20-25. Raptors GM Bobby Webster spoke to the media on Tuesday, suggesting that a resolution to the team’s home court conundrum would come “in the near future.”
The NBA off-season officially opened on Monday with teams permitted to make trades for the first time since the pandemic began. The NBA Draft is Wednesday night and the free agency negotiation window opens Friday, giving teams just over a week to finalize their rosters before training camps open.
The regular season is scheduled to begin on Dec. 22.
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