By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Denver Nuggets coach Mike Malone lashed out at the NBA for not letting coaches have any family members or other guests visiting them in the bubble. Malone and the Nuggets arrived in Orlando, Florida on July 8.
“For the original crew, this is day number 60 and the reason I bring this up is because… The players have their families here, which they deserve, which is the right thing to do, the referees are allowed to bring one guest which is great for the referees,” Malone said in a zoom call presser ahead of Saturday’s (5/9) Game 2 vs. the Los Angeles Clippers. “The coaches aren’t allowed to bring in anybody. I say: Shame on you NBA, this is crazy.”
The NBA has allowed “families and longtime close personal friends” to be invited by players on the Orlando campus. Each player can host up to four guests with few exceptions.
Coaches, like Malone, are prohibited from having any family or people close to them with them. The Nuggets coach was the first among his peers to address his frustration with the issue but is likely not the only feeling that way.
“I miss my family and I think I speak for me, I speak for my coaches and probably all the coaches down here,” Malone, a husband and a father of two daughters, added. “Sixty days and not been granted a privilege to have my family come here to me is criminal in nature and that shouldn’t be. It shouldn’t be at all. ”
“I wanted to get that off my chest,” Malone concluded.