Again, What are your sources saying?

Brand?

Yeah, this is obviously concerning.

It's happened in the last few days or week or so two weeks of several players, you know.

And this is something that you know the C D.

C.

Doesn't have a handle on yet.

We really don't know how long immunity last.

We don't know whether it has to do with viral load and things like that that are all medical terms.

We also you know, there's also players who have been testing positive since March.

That's been 10 months.

And maybe if they tested positive in March or April, when the testing wasn't has developed and there were possibilities of false positives that some players who may test positive again, we didn't really have it the first time.

But this is something that the league believes this happened.

They believe they've had several incidences of reinfection, and this is an education point for the league.

Rachel, as you were mentioning one of the things that has been happening.

There's so many players, hundreds of players, I really do believe in talking to people that have had this virus over last 7 to 10 months believe that they have a level of immunity and they're operating like that away from the court, and that could be contributing to the rise in cases.

So part of this reality is that they have to educate players and say, Just because you've had it doesn't mean you can act like you would in a normal time.

How do you think everything that we just discussed everything that the league has put out they're going to now start doing is going to sit with teams and players?

And how effective do you think it's gonna be?

Well, being stuck in a home is going to be a big push back because there are players who are routinely going out to dinner with one another, routinely spending time away from their homes again because so many of them believe they have antibodies.

And frankly, most of them probably do.

Um, but the problem Rachel is not necessarily the infections.

It's the contact tracing its.

When one player on the team becomes positive, it's it's six or seven.

Others have to be shut down, and now you're shut down for a week for that and you're missing all these games.

Obviously, they're worried about infections, but they're also trying to limit how many guys get affected so that maybe they conserve.

Survived, But they can keep playing through a positive test, you know, one on a team as opposed to shutting down most of the roster.

All right, I want to bring Richard and Paul back into the conversation.

So given everything, Richard, I mean, you remember the first month or so of locked down in most states around the US We're not supposed to go outside for anything, and that is basically except the grocery store.

And that is basically what they're telling players the rest of the season is going to be like until they're vaccinated.

How How would you guys react to this if you were still playing today?

One.

Let me compliment the MBA first, the fact that they're not trying to rush to the front of the line to get all of their players vaccinated.

That's step one, because this is costing millions of dollars.

They dedicated a ton of money to get all of the the stuff done in the bubble, so it's like They're like, Hey, no, it needs to be first for, you know, our first line people, healthcare workers, those of the people that being said, the contract tracing I don't want to say it's too much, but there's no way.

It's like, Well, you guarded him.

So you need to go away because they have testing that.

That's where I will say, the Bradley Beal Jayson Tatum thing is where they haven't done that.

But But that looks like where it's going.

They're trying to like.

Okay, well, maybe if we put you away then so you know everybody was guarding Jayson Tatum, right?

So it's like you have toe on Lee.

Do it when someone tests positive.

When you're trying to sit players down and trying to do this stuff, it's going toe, ADM.

Or because now you're I understand contact tracing, but you can't do it when you're playing games to this extent.

Yeah, it's kind of contradicting, you know, go into a game and I'm playing him all game.

But I go in the protocol for talking to him after the game and so, but this is a big concern for me because I know people.

That's been affected by Cove in 19.

And, you know, as the cases grow, um, people are dying out here, so I'm a player.

You know, this not only affects the player, but it effects.

You know, family members if you're around them kids, uh, people you're close to And this is a real concern of my I think we really need to really take a step back as the lead and take this a little more serious.

Because me personally, I know people have been affected by Cove in 19 has lost their lives, and, you know, as the number of cases continue to grow, uh, I'm not even sure about even moving forward.

I know there's a lot of money involved in their behavior.

Yeah, but is it worth a person's life at the end of the day?

Yeah.

I mean, look, I think what you're seeing today these new protocols, it is what you say, Paul.

It is the MBA saying All right, we got to take it more seriously even than we have been.

We've got to tighten up.

I want to make a point about the contact tracing the Richard.

I think the Beale Tatum case is a bit of an outlier.

Most of what we've seen with the contact tracing guys who have been out of games have been teammates, right, who have been in close proximity without a mask to a teammate who test positive.

And basically, what these new rules today are basically forbidding is any of that kind of contact so that if in the future a guy test positive for Covitz, at least within the team functions and they can't help it if to Blair's get together at someone's house toe, hang out there telling guys not to do that.

But within the team they could say, Look, one guy got it, no one else has to sit because no one else was around him without a mask outside of the game itself.

And even on the bench is they're telling guys to know our masks.

Yeah, but this is the issue with it.

We knew that this was going to happen, so I just think that for us to be shocked at, like, how are we gonna we need?

And I agree, like we should have the step back.

Should have been before we took a step forward.

Look at football.

Look at baseball.

Look what's happening in college.

We knew that this was going to be the case.

So 72 games, that was that was kind of a stretch.

They're right.

They wanted it was ambitious and have the schedule.

Yes, and that's why.

And that's why they did it.

But ultimately, I think the best thing for this toe continue is just to push through.

We know that's the only way is gonna get ugly teams they're gonna probably be should be.

Second might be 7th, 8th team might be third.

You don't you don't know.

But if you're going to and the players air okay with their own personal safety and they are willing to set up and do this, I think you just continue to push forward with all the protocols and realizing that it might end up being a 50 game season.

And I'm and I'm okay with it as long as the players are.

Yeah, that's the question that I have, you know?

How does it affect guys who are missing games?

You know, like the Celtics have had three games postponed?

Will they have a chance in the season to make up those games are not because if not, then you have a number of teams not playing the same amount of games.

But it could come to that possibility.

Then you cramming in games at the end of the year.

You're playing back to back to back.

You know that's gonna affect teams.

Also.

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