Daily NBA News for June 23, 2020
2020-06-23 12:00:00 EDT
Here’s your daily roundup of all the current NBA news that’s affecting the 2019-20 season restart and playoffs. Today we’re checking out some player notes and rumors from around the league, so let’s get right to it with the latest NBA updates. Check back all season long for free NBA picks and NBA predictions at Sports Chat Place.
Trevor Ariza Opts Out of Restart – Trail Blazers forward Trevor Ariza will not be rejoining his team when the league restarts, choosing to opt out of the setup. That’s disappointing news for Portland, but Ariza does have a very good reason for his absence.
Ariza is currently involved in a legal battle for custody over his 12-year-old son. Under the agreement in place, he has a one-month visitation window that falls during the NBA quarantine. The 29-37 Blazers will have to push hard during the seeding games in order to make the playoffs, but Ariza could lose up to $1.8 million in salary due to his decision. That said, he’s certainly doing the right thing as a parent and should be commended for his dedication to his son.
Ariza isn’t the only player to opt out; Wizards sharpshooter Davis Bertrans (who has some knee issue history and is set to be a free agent after a career year) will not be taking part either. We should see a handful of other players opt out as well due to various reasons, and they won’t be punished by the league outside of losing potential salary for the games.
DeMarcus Cousins Will Sit Out – Four-time All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins has gotten some legitimate interest from several NBA teams after being waived by the Lakers in late February, but he won’t be returning to the court.
Cousins’ decision is based on his health, as he’s suffered a torn Achilles, a torn quadriceps and a torn ACL all in the short space of 18 months. We haven’t seen the last of Cousins, though; he’ll be spending the downtime healing up and getting his body ready for the 2020-21 season as a free agent.
NBA Virus Updates – We’ll finish things off today by looking at an issue that could potentially pose a huge problem for the league. The Florida Department of Health reported Monday that the state has passed 100,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections, and new cases have been trending upward for the last month as the state reopens and people start going outside again.
It’s obviously not ideal for the NBA to travel to a virus hotspot right now, as they’ll be playing all their games in a “bubble” environment at Disney World in Orlando. The Disney workers were initially expected to be able to return home every day, as they’ll be under strict sanitation procedures and have no face-to-face contact with the players, but that may not be realistic as virus cases surge in Florida.
The NBA certainly has more details to work out concerning their plans for restarting games, so we’ll keep you posted in the daily updates as the news trickles in.
