The NBA Bubble Could Burst Before It Opens

Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan said Thursday that he put down the NBA’s 113-page health-and-safety handbook after reading just 10 lines. He told reporters the guidelines are “frustrating and overwhelming.” 

The NBA’s Orlando Bubble will burst long before we play a game at the end of this month. It won’t be saved by a snitch hotline, increased testing or LeBron James’ thirst to file an immediate rebuttal to Michael Jordan’s “Last Dance” hagiography. 

The Orlando Bubble is the modern day Titanic sailing in waters filled with enough icebergs to sink a fleet of luxury cruise ships. Why is it even called a “bubble” if unionized Disney workers can come and go as they please? Does Adam Silver really believe his band of millionaire millennials are going to tolerate being less free than the hourly millennials who serve them?

Silver would be smart to burst the bubble now. Make the players sign waivers, let them do as they please and get this thing over with as soon as possible. NBA lawyers probably think the 113-page handbook will protect the league against litigation. It’s likely going to do just the opposite. It’s going to be used to justify some ill player’s lawsuit.

The league announced Thursday that nine more of its players tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total to 25. 

There’s no way the Orlando Bubble plan survives, no way the game plan laid out is executed. There’s just one NBA player all-in on a reboot of the lost season -- King James. He needs this season to climax as desperately as a teenage boy on prom night. 

Giannis doesn’t need it. Kawhi doesn’t need it. James Harden? Why should he care? Same goes for Russell Westbrook, Dame Lillard and Steph Curry. 

LeBron is chasing the ghost of the GOAT. 

You know what? Silver should hand LeBron a mythical NBA championship and call it a season. It worked for years in college football.