The NBA's bubble season has been, by all accounts, an incredible success so far. The entire season has been taking place at Walt Disney World with players limited to one of three hotels outside of games. So far, there have been zero positive tests for COVID-19 since the bubble went into lockdown, but now the bubble is set to see an influx of new people as players will be allowed to invite guests after the playoff semifinals begin. But to keep things safe, there are some rules regarding who is allowed in and who is not.
ESPN has a breakdown of the rules that were recently distributed to players regarding who they can invite as guests. As far as who can be there, each player will be allowed to bring four guests, though that appears to mean four adults as adding children means a player could invite a few more people. These people must be family or long term personal friends of the players. Guests must quarantine at home for three days, then fly to Orlando and quarantine for an additional four days, or they can quarantine the full seven days in Orlando.
What's potentially more interesting then who can be guests, is who can't. It feels like this should go without saying, but just because you know somebody online doesn't mean you know them, and so "friends" from social media don't count.
As NBA teams get eliminated from contention after the first round of playoffs, they are exiting the bubble in pretty short order and going home, and so the idea is that, by replacing the people leaving with guests for the people staying, the bubble isn't getting any larger. And it is a nice benefit for the players who have had to be without their families for the last few months.
However, the NBA wants these guests limited to personal relationships, so if a player was thinking of taking the opportunity to get some business meetings done, or perhaps get a new tattoo, that's apparently off the table, unless your personal tattoo artist is also your best friend.
You don't need your personal chef. Walt Disney World has some amazing chefs who work there. I have to believe that the NBA players are eating the same food you would get in the table service establishments inside the hotels they're staying in, and that's going to be some good food.
Only one guest can attend any given game, though again, a guest plus a child can attend together. Although, that child has to be 32 inches in height or less to qualify. Because apparently everything has a height requirement at Walt Disney World, even NBA games.
And if you happen to be friends with an NBA player and think you can use that relationship to get a free Walt Disney World vacation out of the deal, it won't work. In order to keep the bubble intact, guests will not be able to visit the theme parks, so what is even the point?
