Another baby step in the process towards the return of sports and the return to normalcy took place on Saturday evening.
The news was broken by none other than Adrian Wojnarowski.
It was the first Woj-Bomb that the league has seen since March 11, when the NBA senior insider for ESPN broke the news that the league had suspended its season following Rudy Gobert's positive COVID-19 test.
Wojnarowski tweeted, "Beginning on May 1, the NBA is allowing teams to open their practice facilities to players in cities and states where local governments have eased stay-at-home orders, sources tell ESPN."
He followed this tweet up by explaining that while the facilities will be reopened, they will only be permitting individual player work, as large group/team activities will still be prohibited for now.
Woj also indicated that the NBA will work with teams to make accommodations in markets where stay-at-home-orders have not been loosened, such as New York (Knicks, Nets) and Los Angeles (Lakers, Clippers).
It has also been reported that this decision does not mean the season's return is near, but allowing the players to return to practice facilities was indeed an essential first step.
The state of Georgia is one state that is seeing many of its restrictions are being rather rapidly loosened. The state's only NBA team, the Atlanta Hawks, are currently 20-47 and 11 games out of the Eastern Conference's final playoff spot with 15 games remaining on their regular-season schedule.
With Georgia's restrictions loosening, it is possible that players currently residing in the country would venture to the state in order to not allow a certain player or team to gain an advantage.
If/when the season is able to return, many logistical questions will remain. These include where the remainder of the season's games will be played and the decision to either finish the regular season or move immediately to the playoffs.
We are still just scratching the surface in the return of sports, but this is another welcome bit of news.
Another day. Another positive note from a large voice in the sports community (via Twitter) to hint at the return of sports.
Folks, many steps remain and it may take a bit of time. Nonetheless, sports...are on the way back!
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