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Silver: Spike in cases within bubble would force NBA to shut down again

Jeff Haynes / National Basketball Association / Getty

In the event the coronavirus penetrates the NBA's bubble setup after all 22 teams arrive in Florida, commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged the league would be forced to halt play for a second time.

"Certainly if we had any sort of significant spread within our campus, we would be shut down again," Silver said Tuesday during a virtual interview with Fortune Brainstorm Health, according to ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk.

Twenty-five NBA players have tested positive for COVID-19 since the NBA began conducting regular tests on June 23.

"We won't be surprised when they (players) first come down to Orlando if we have some additional players test positive," Silver said.

"What would be most concerning is once players enter this campus and then go through our quarantine period, then if they were to test positive or if we were to have any positive tests, we would know we would have an issue. ... We would know that there's in essence a hole in our bubble or that our quarantine or our campus is not working in some way."

Once all travel parties have arrived at Orlando's Walt Disney World Resort by July 9, players and team personnel will have to quarantine for two days.

The 2019-20 regular season is set to resume July 30.

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