PBA: No bubble tournament

The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) remains cold on staging another bubble tournament to push through with the Governors’ Cup.

PBA commissioner Willie Marcial said the bubble setup is still their least option despite the national government extending Alert Level 3 in Manila until 31 January.

According to Marcial, they are still hesitant with the bubble setting as it cannot guarantee 100 percent safety of players, coaches and staff against the ongoing surge of Covid-19 cases in the country.

“Can the bubble assure us that there will no longer be infections once we enter it? It’s not guaranteed,” Marcial said.

“If the cases are rising and we’ll continue the games in a bubble, I think it’s not worth it.”

“We’d rather be in the status quo. We don’t want to do it just for the sake of resuming the games.”

The Philippines is currently at an all-time high as it registered 37,207 Covid-19 cases on Friday.

The Department of Health reported a 47.3 percent positivity rate and weekly average of 31,264 infections.

The league was not spared as several teams and league staff suffered from Covid-19 infections early this year.

Among those who have tested positive were 14 from Terrafirma, 10 from Phoenix and a few league referees.

With that, Marcial said they are still eyeing February as a target month for planning and potential resumption of the games should the cases decrease next month.

Prior to the postponement of games, Magnolia is on top of league standings with an unblemished 3-0 record, followed by Meralco with 2-0 and NLEX with 4-1 cards.

“We’re hoping that the cases would go lower soon, so that we can have a clearer plan by February,” Marcial said.