Milwaukee Bucks Close Practice Facility Amid COVID-19 Test Results

It was reported by Adrian Wojnarowski that the Milwaukee Bucks have closed their practice facility amid their COVID-19 test results.

Last week the Milwaukee Bucks reopened their practice facility for individual workouts as everyone gears back up for the NBA season to resume on July 30th. However, after being open for just a handful of days, it was reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, that the Bucks would be closing the facility due to the results of some recent COVID-19 testing that took place.

As of now, we don’t know how many members of the organization tested positive or whether it is a player, coach, staff member, or a combination of the three. But what we do know, as Woj reported, is that the Bucks will not be reopening the practice facility before they leave for Orlando this Thursday.

League-wide, the Milwaukee Bucks now become the fifth team who have had to shut down their practice facility. Denver, Miami, and the Los Angeles Clippers all remain closed, while the Brooklyn Nets had shut down at one point, but have since reopened.

Of course, priority No. 1 in all of this is the health and safety of everyone involved, and part of the NBA’s protocol is that anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 must have two negative tests before they are allowed to rejoin their team in Orlando.

As I’ve mentioned, we don’t know who has tested positive, but given we are still a few weeks away from the official re-start date, they could be back with the team by that point. However, if it is a player or a coach that tested positive, they could very well miss some practice time and potentially scrimmages that the NBA has set up for each team to play in.

From a basketball standpoint, Milwaukee enters this re-start in as good of shape as any team as they have all but locked up the No.1 seed in the Eastern Conference, holding a 6.5 game lead over the Toronto Raptors. Rather than fretting over playoff seeding, they’ll be able to focus more on rebuilding some of that chemistry that was likely lost after a three-month break, as well as any areas that Coach Budenholzer wants to emphasize heading into the playoffs.

Yet despite the Bucks’ standing in the Eastern Conference playoff race, as Giannis Antetokounmpo told reporters last week, “this is going to be the toughest championship you could ever win.” And given the unique circumstances, it’s hard to argue against him.