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UPDATE: May 20, 1:41 p.m. — The NBA had been looking at Disney Land as a potential spot to help the season return. Well, Orlando is emerging as the frontrunner to house teams and it’s looking like preparation has already begun at Epcot, per multiple sources. The Athletic’s Shams Charania and Sam Amick are saying Disney Land is the leading candidate while Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports has the Wide World of Sports Complex getting ready for basketball and possibly soccer.
We’re expecting a decision on whether the NBA will resume or not by June. If the season starts back up, a plan will need to be put in place for a return. In this case, the NBA is discussing holding a “Training Camp 2.0” of sorts, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times.
Among NBA return-to-play scenarios being discussed, league sources say, is a template calling for teams to conduct Training Camp 2.0 in their own practice facilities before heading to one or two centralized sites to resume play, with Orlando and Las Vegas still vying for games
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) May 19, 2020
If teams come back, they’ll prepare to return at their practices facilities for a week or two before moving to a neutral location to resume the season. Disney Land and Orlando has been discussed as well as Las Vegas for potential sites if/when the NBA is back. Stein sort of alludes to the possibility that NBA teams will play games in two other neutral sites, plus Vegas and Orlando. This is in an attempt to prevent mass travel during the coronavirus pandemic.
NBA teams have been allowed to practice since May 8 with voluntary workouts at team facilities. Many teams returned to practice on Monday and now we’re up to over half the league. The sooner all teams get practices back up and running, the easier it will be for the League to put this Training Camp idea into place. Adam Silver is expected to announce a decision on whether the League will return or not between June 1-15, so that means we’ve got a little bit of a buffer. Perhaps that buffer is what will count as the Training Camp.