Though, as Hawyard notes, leaving the bubble for such an occasion is a pretty easy call. “I’ve been at the birth of every one of my children, and I think there are more important things in life,” the dad to daughters Bernadette, 5, Charlie, 4, and Nora, 19 months, told ESPN of his intentions to be at wife Robyn Hayward‘s side when she welcomes their son this September. “So we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
Rules permit players to bust out of the bubble for less than a week, provided they quarantine for four days upon their return and test negative for COVID each day, with allowable leaves including situations like the birth of a child or death of a family member. For everyone else, there’s texting, FaceTime (Hayward told ESPN he hopes to pitch in with bedtime remotely) and, perhaps, a good, distracting video game session.
Here’s a look at the teammates the NBA’s biggest stars have had to leave behind.