The Milwaukee Bucks learned which hotel they’ll be staying in at Walt Disney World when the NBA resumes, along with the amenities that will be available to them.
The NBA’s plans for a resumption of the 2019-20 season are continuing to evolve, in spite of continued uncertainty from at least one meaningful contingent of the league’s players.
The latest details to emerge via multiple reports from the likes of ESPN and The Athletic (here and here) [$] offer some real clarity as to what life in the campus-style environment at Walt Disney World would look like, particularly for those teams who could be set for longer stays as the postseason continues.
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Of course, as the team with the best record in the NBA, that is particularly pertinent to the Milwaukee Bucks.
With hotel groupings decided by seedings, the Bucks will be one of a number of teams staying at Gran Destino Tower at Coronado Springs. Gran Destino is one of three hotels being used by the NBA, and is viewed as the hotel that will host league personnel all the way through to the conclusion of the season.
Bucks center and Disney expert Robin Lopez weighed in on this news on Twitter on Tuesday night, sharing that he would have preferred to stay at the Yacht Club, where some of his former teammates will have the luxury of staying.
Blizzard Beach is right down the road...if I have to be in Destino, I'll settle for private access to Cross Country Creek. https://t.co/zarnUIIak3
— Robin Lopez (@rolopez42) June 17, 2020
I will trade hotel rooms with any @trailblazers players @Dame_Lillard @CJMcCollum @carmeloanthony
— Robin Lopez (@rolopez42) June 17, 2020
Other key news from the NBA memos that were widely reported on Thursday night included a clarification of testing protocols, and what would happen in the event of a positive test.
The memo confirmed that only the individual who tests positive would be required to quarantine, as opposed to a whole team. A player would need to be asymptomatic, return at least two negative tests 24 hours apart, be cleared by an NBA-consulting infectious disease physician, and undergo cardiac screening before being permitted to return to play .
Players will also have the option to opt out of playing in Walt Disney World, generally, although they’d be required to inform their team and the NBPA by June 25, and would be subject to a reduction in salary to account for the games missed.
For teams who advance beyond the first round of the playoffs, they will be permitted up to 17 guest rooms, which must be paid for by the individual players. Strict quarantine and testing protocols would also apply to those guests.
While on-site, there will be a range of amenities at the players’ disposal, including a players only lounge set up for gaming and TV, daily DJ sets, movie screenings which will reportedly include unreleased Disney movies, such as Marvel’s Black Widow, and team-organized excursions for golfing, fishing, bowling and exclusive access to Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Disney’s Wild Africa Trek.
Barbers, hair braiders, manicurists and pedicurists will also be available on-site, as will facilities for yoga and meditation.
Players will also be allowed to attend games other than their own teams while on-site.
It all makes for the kind of environment that no NBA player would likely ever have expected to end up competing in as a professional, but one that could lead to countless fascinating stories, and a plausible path to completing the season.