Yahoo Sports Carmelo Anthony 'still up in the air' on returning to Blazers for Disney World games
The NBA has announced it will return to playing games at Disney World in July, but not all players are sold on the plan. That includes Portland Trail Blazers veteran Carmelo Anthony.
During an interview with Ernie Johnson on an #NBATogether stream, Anthony said he still unsure if he would rejoin the team for the remainder of the season.
From CBS Sports:
"As far as actually playing and going back down into Orlando, I'm still up in the air a little bit because I really don't, we don't have all the details." Anthony said. "We don't know a lot of information, so until we have that, it's hard to just commit to that 100 percent."
Anthony signed with the Blazers in November and has since been a solid rotation player, averaging 15.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game on .517 true shooting.
The Blazers are among the 22 teams that will convene in Orlando next month, and sit 3.5 games out of the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference at 29-37. The team was the only one to vote against the NBA’s return plan, as it wanted a 20-team group rather than 22.
When the Blazers return to action, they will have eight regular season games to make up ground on the eighth-place Memphis Grizzlies before the playoffs start, and there will be plenty of competition to get there. The New Orleans Pelicans, Sacramento Kings, San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns are all within 2.5 games of the ninth-place Blazers.
Obviously, having Anthony along for the ride would be helpful to the Blazers for that race. He’s not the only NBA player who doubts the plan, though.
Several players reportedly oppose unsure about NBA’s plan to return
A “faction” of 40 to 50 unnamed NBA players remain uncertain the league’s plan to return and could decline to play the rest of the season, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Wednesday.
Among the concerns that have been reportedly cited by players are “family situations, the inability to leave the Disney World Resort campus, the coronavirus pandemic and the implications surrounding the emergence of social justice causes in the country.”
The NBA and NBPA have reportedly already agreed that players who opt to sit out won’t face any consequences beyond losing the equivalent pay for those games.
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