NBA Bubble Musings: 10-minute quarters; key players leave bubble
Looking back at the news from the week in our NBA bubble musings
If you’re a fan of the NBA, this is a big week as it pertains to the return of action. July 22 teams are set to begin scrimmaging against each other in exhibition games. July 30 is when the eight seeding games officially begin.
Select media are getting daily access to teams and players within the bubble and regional TV networks are set to broadcast the exhibition games that will begin later this week. With that in mind, let’s take a look back at the week that was in the NBA’s restart bubble.
Zion, Harrell leave the NBA’s bubble
The New Orleans Pelicans are considered to be one of the most interesting teams in the Western Conference. Losing Zion Williamson would drastically temper the hype, however. He had to leave the NBA bubble due to a family emergency. The good news, though, is that he hopes to return at some point before the official restart.
Zion Williamson update: pic.twitter.com/eShAPl1gB2
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) July 16, 2020
Similarly, Montrezl Harrell also had to leave the NBA bubble. Harrell had to leave the bubble due to a family emergency. He, too, hopes to return before the restart.
Montrezl Harrell plans to return to the NBA restart at a later date, sources said. He left Disney campus to tend to an urgent family situation. https://t.co/IYOx5ZIDZi
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 17, 2020
Hopefully, everything is OK for both Zion and Harrell
Beasley loses NBA opportunity
Last week it was reported that Michael Beasley had signed with the Brooklyn Nets. However, after testing positive for COVID-19, per Shams Charania, Beasley has exited the NBA bubble and his place on the Nets roster was replaced by Justin Anderson.
10-minute NBA exhibition quarters
As we get closer to the start of the action, it was announced that the league will experiment with 10-minute quarters. Those games are set to begin July 22 and run through July 28. Teams will get a couple of days off before the start of the eight seeding bubble games on July 30.
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It’ll be interesting to see how much quicker the exhibition games run, and potentially if this is an option for the NBA to implement league-wide down the line. More than anything, the NBA’s restart bubble is the perfect time for at least some experimentation.