N.B.A. Opens for Practice, but Few Show Up

About half of the league’s 30 teams were allowed to open their facilities Friday, but only two did. Players and teams wonder if it’s worth the risk.

Larry Nance Jr. of the Cleveland Cavaliers, left, was one of a handful of players to practice at the team’s facility on Friday, the first day it had been open since the season was suspended on March 11 because of the coronavirus pandemic.Credit...Tony Dejak/Associated Press

By Luis Stein

• May 8, 2020

The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Portland Trail Blazers were the only clubs to unlock their practice facilities Friday, reflecting the cautious approach many franchises and players adopted on the first day that roughly half of the N.B.A.’s 30 teams had clearance to reopen after a shutdown of nearly two months.

“It was wonderful,” said Cleveland’s Larry Nance Jr., who spent roughly 90 minutes lifting weights and shooting while his teammates Kevin Love, Cedi Osman and Ante Zizic each worked at separate baskets.

“It was more for mental health than physical, to be honest with you,” Nance said in a telephone interview.

Then on Friday night, N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver joined a conference call at the invitation of Michele Roberts, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, and fielded questions from players. Among Silver’s revelations, according to two people on the call who were not authorized to discuss the details publicly, was a willingness to go beyond June 1 before deciding the fate of the 2019-20 season and his contention that the best chance of completing the season with a representative postseason would most likely require playing in just one or two centralized locations.

Orlando, Fla., and Las Vegas, often mentioned as possibilities, were confirmed on the call as prime contenders.

The openings in Cleveland and Portland were the first since the league office confirmed to teams earlier this week that they could open facilities for at most four players at any time — but only in states where shelter-in-place restrictions had been eased, such as Florida, Georgia and Texas.