In a Zoom call with reporters on Tuesday, Magic president of basketball operations, Jeff Weltman, revealed that three players did not accompany the team to the bubble. Those players are Markelle Fultz, Al-Farouq Aminu, and an unnamed player who tested positive for the coronavirus.
The positive test, Weltman said during the Zoom call, came during testes conducted around June 24th-29th. Weltman would not say whether the player is experiencing symptoms or not but did say that the, "player is following protocol, and we're hoping he can join us shortly."
In Fultz's case, it is a "non-COVID personal matter that he's been excused to address." Once Fultz does rejoin the team in the bubble, per league rules, he will have to undergo an in-room quarantine of roughly 36 hours to allow for two negative coronavirus tests 24 hours apart.
As for Aminu, he tore meniscus cartilage in his right knee on November 29th but attempted to rehab it without surgery but suffered a setback. He then had surgery on January 7th so he will not be with the team.
As for the players that are playing, how will the layoff impact the players?
Via Josh Robbins at The Athletic:
“I don’t think anyone in the NBA has ever been through anything like this,” Weltman said. “These guys have never been through this long a period of not playing basketball. And so that’s where the attachment (between players and their teams), the communication, the organization … will matter. The conditioning and the work that players have put in individually will matter. But this is completely unpredictable.”
The reality is that it’s never been more important for coaches and the sports medicine staff to communicate well with players, and vice versa.
Coach Steve Clifford has said he will regularly seek feedback from players on how they’re feeling physically. Clifford also has said he will rely heavily on David Tenney, the Magic’s high performance director, to help map out approaches to practices and to playing time.
The Magic open up their restart in the bubble against the team that is just a half-game ahead of them for the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference in the Brooklyn Nets on July 31st.