The Knicks’ hope of organizing mandatory OTAs this summer has been disappointed, according to industry sources.
The eight teams not involved in the Orlando restart were pushing for the mandatory activities of the organized team to compensate for the loss of the Orlando restart. But the NBA and its players’ association won’t allow any of this to be mandatory, according to sources.
Some teams – not the Knicks – have lobbied to organize a site’s eight-team summer championship tournament, but Orlando’s massive COVID-19 protocols are too complex to be implemented by random teams, sources say.
NBPA director Michele Roberts hinted at concerns about OTAs for “Delete 8” during Friday’s conference call, but did not rule it out.
“Candidly, while I appreciate the fact that there will be a little layoff, I think there are some things these teams can do to convince the guys that they aren’t playing some [benefits] from their not getting involved in Orlando,” he said. Roberts. “But unless we could replicate in any way the protocol that was established for Orlando, I would be – now I’m tame – suspect.”
The Knicks were only interested in staging a week of minicamps with their young players after the end of July and they didn’t want games. This way a new manager could get an idea of his team before the field opens on November 6th.
The championship did not rule out informal group training, based on state laws of social distancing, but only voluntarily and with strict guidelines, according to sources. For now, “Eliminate 8” are allowed to hold individual workouts in their training facility like the other 22 clubs.