Oh boy....
Jeff Passan
@JeffPassan
Eight more players and two coaches with the Miami Marlins have tested positive for COVID-19, as an outbreak has spread throughout their clubhouse and brought the total of cases in recent days to at least 14, sources familiar with the situation tell me and
@JesseRogersESPN
At what point does it become irresponsible to continue?
They might wait until it impacts the Lakers with a few cases and suddenly, it will all be stopped. There is no way they keep it out of the bubble with players are visiting strip clubs in a state where Covid is not under control.
When a player or players, Refs, Coaches, God forbid die from this due to their need to get the post season underway, Adam Silver and the owners will be personally responsible.
I think the NBA is taking this very seriously. They will tolerate a positive test in the bubble, because everyone understands it isn't truly impermeable. What will cause them to shut down is if one player spreads it to multiple other players, because then they will know that all their in-bubble precautions aren't sufficient. Timing could matter a little bit -- if the bubble bursts during the finals, perhaps you delay that series for two weeks and try one more time, but if it's the first round of the playoffs, there's no way.
The NBA did their best to follow the science on how to restart safely, looking at every detail they could seemingly think of, down to redesigning the whistles used by refs to help prevent spittle from flying. It's impressive enough that they're days away from starting with no positive tests in their bubble. Undoubtedly there is risk, but they've been light-years more responsible than baseball and football in setting this up, and it would be surprising if they weren't similarly responsible should the evidence say that they need to shut down.