Report: Players who opt out of NBA return must inform teams by June 24

Any player who chooses to sit out when the NBA resumes play must inform his team by June 24, according to a memo the National Basketball Players Association sent to all players Tuesday that was obtained by The Athletic's Shams Charania.

A player who declines to play would reportedly lose roughly 1.1% of his salary for each game missed. However, players won't be disciplined for sitting out, according to Charania.

Two groups of players are reportedly exempt from salary reductions: "protected players" and "excused players."

A "protected player" is one deemed by his team to be at higher risk of severe illness from COVID-19. An "excused player" is one that a panel of three medical experts rules has a higher risk of severe illness. A player who isn't designated by his team as "protected" can still be "excused."

Players reportedly have until June 25 to request "excused" status.

For the players, coaches, and staff that do participate, those sitting in the first row of a team's bench won't be required to wear masks, sources told Charania. However, inactive players and coaches sitting in the second row must wear masks at all times.

Referees won't be required to wear masks, Charania notes.

The NBA is tentatively set to resume the 2019-20 season with 22 teams at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World.

Training camps are expected to begin later in June, with teams moving into the campus environment in early July. The "seeding phase" - an eight-game schedule for each team - is expected to begin July 30.

In an appearance on ESPN on Monday night, league commissioner Adam Silver said he felt the NBA is "going to be able to work through most of those issues over the next few weeks," but he also accepted that the planned restart might not be comfortable for every player.

"It could be for a host of reasons," Silver said. "It may be for family reasons, it may be for health reasons they have, or it may be because they feel, as some players have said very recently, that their time is best spent elsewhere."