NBA players looking for specialised insurance coverage before resuming season

The NBA is set to resume the 2019-2020 season on July 30 in a quarantined bubble inside Disney World, Florida. All teams, media personnel, management, and staff will be in an enclosed environment until their team is eliminated or a champion is crowned. Jayson Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, De'Aaron Fox, Kyle Kuzma, and Bam Adebayo are seeking NBA-backed insurance policies that would protect against career-threatening injuries when they resume playing for the season.

While players are always at risk of career-threatening injuries during practice and in actual games, the additional factor of the coronavirus pandemic increases the health hazard in the planned season resumption. There is also the problem of playing high-impact games after four months of inactivity.

While there is still time to work out and get back in shape to play the highest level of basketball, it doesn't change the fact that the risk of career-ending injuries to promising young players and their future million dollar contracts is present.

Donovan Mitchell, one of the players seeking additional insurance, was the second NBA player confirmed to have the coronavirus. He has since recovered from it.

According to Yahoo Sports, Tatum and the other young stars were in a conference call with the NBA Players Association to discuss the insurance policy. A max-contract player like Tatum could cost the league up to £400,000. If the NBA shoulders the cost for Tatum and the others, there's also a possibility, in the interest of fairness, that other players would ask for the same.

Many other players have already declared that they would not go to Orlando to finish the season, citing health and social justice concerns. Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant is the first player who declared he won't be playing when the season resumes. His teammate, Kyrie Irving, started a campaign to influence other players to follow suit.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced that the players won't be forced to play regardless of their reason. Silver also said there will be no punishment (at least from the league) for those who chose to opt-out. The NBA is also looking into allowing teams to temporarily sign free agents and promote B-league players to fill up their roster.