The Toronto Raptors announced Monday that they will prepare for the resumption of the 2019-20 NBA season from Fort Myers, Fla.
Select players and staffers are departing for Fort Myers today, where the team will stay until entering Orlando’s Disney campus in early July ahead of the season’s restart. Group workouts won’t begin until the team is at Disney.
Players will be required to report for mandatory testing on Tuesday, according to a previous report from Sportsnet’s Michael Grange.
Florida’s COVID-19 case count has spiked recently, with record highs reported in several consecutive days last week. On Friday, CNN reported 3,822 positive tests — a new single-day record for the state.
Also on Friday, the Tampa Bay Lightning, Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays shut down their Florida facilities after multiple reported instances of people testing positive or exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms.
The Raptors are the only NBA team set to report outside their home city when the league’s return-to-play Phase 2 begins on Tuesday.
Many Raptors employees have been quarantining in the U.S. already and the Canada-U.S. border remains closed for non-essential travel, which is why the team is reporting directly to Florida for training camp instead.
The NBA regular season is scheduled to return on July 30 at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., with 22 teams each playing eight more games to determine seeding for the playoffs.