New Orleans Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry has been cleared to travel with his team to the NBA bubble at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reports.
Gentry, who's 65 years old and at a higher risk of becoming severely ill if he contracts COVID-19, has been part of a group that's undergone additional examination before being permitted to enter the bubble.
The NBA can bar coaches from joining their teams if league-appointed physicians determine their risk factors "present a direct threat to his or her health were the individual to participate in the agreed-upon competition," according to ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst.
Three bench bosses set to partake in the league's restart are 65 or older: Gentry, Houston Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni, and Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs. Among that group, D'Antoni is still awaiting word on whether he'll be allowed into the bubble, Wojnarowski notes.
Gentry has previously expressed his desire to coach when the 2019-20 campaign resumes, stating that warnings about COVID-19 would "not stop me from doing my job one bit."
