Denver Nuggets coach slams NBA for not allowing coaches to bring families to Orlando

Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone sent a strong message to the NBA's head office regarding the restriction for coaches to bring their families to the NBA-Disney bubble in Orlando, Florida.

According to The Score, Malone is angry about the policy and called it "shameful and criminal in nature." In a quote from his press interview last Friday, Malone said:

"The players have their families here, which they deserve, which is the right thing to do. The referees are allowed to bring one guest, which is great for the referees. The coaches - the coaches are not allowed to bring anybody."

The NBA restarted on July 31st inside a bio-secure bubble in Disney World Florida.. After the elimination of six teams after the round-robin games representing the final 12-16 games of the regular season, the first round of the Playoffs started less than a week after, on August 17th. The NBA has since allowed a limited number of family members and close friends to join players in the NBA-Disney bubble beginning the second round of the playoffs.

But Malone is strongly questioning why the same courtesy is not extended for coaches.

The league later responded to Malone's comments. According to league management, after the number of people in the Orlando bubble has been reduced after eliminating several teams, they have allowed players to invite a limited number of people into the bubble. However, due to the contagious nature of COVID-19 and everyone's safety as a priority, nobody else is allowed to bring more people until more teams (and more people) are eliminated from the season.

The league added that once more teams are eliminated in the future, allowing more guests to join them in Orlando becomes a possibility.

Coach Malone is not happy that after 60 days, coaches, are still not given priority when it comes to visitors.

Los Angeles Lakers veteran player Jared Dudley agrees with coach Malone. He told GQ last week that if the league plans to do another bubble for the 2020-2021 season, it is impossible without players' families.