Though Hornets player attendance at the team’s practice facility has reportedly been strong, pending free agents and players who are not currently in Charlotte or are concerned about COVID-19-related health risks might not participate in upcoming group practices, per Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer. Bonnell notes that many players becoming free agents in mid-October could be reluctant to participate. Also, some players might not be in Charlotte or might choose not participate over health concerns.
The NBA and NBPA agreed to let each of the so-called “Delete Eight” — the eight league-worst teams who missed out on the Orlando restart — to hold voluntary skill and conditioning sessions plus scrimmages at their facilities, with mandated campus living arrangements, from September 21 to October 6 after a weeklong quarantine. Teams are allowed to invite five players who were with the team’s affiliated G-League club during the 2019-20 season.
Backup center Bismack Biyombo, earning $17M this season, is the costliest free agent who is definitely coming off Charlotte’s books in October. Bonnell tweets that Biyombo’s fellow 2020 free agents on the roster, Dwayne Bacon and Willy Hernangomez, will most likely be advised by their representatives to either not participate at all or only partake in a limited amount of activities to avoid injury ahead of new potential contracts.
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