The pressure applied by Michael Malone and Erik Spoelstra worked, as the NBA has confirmed they will let staff and coaches bring guests into the campus at Orlando.
Adrian Wojnarowksi from ESPN announced this will begin during the conference finals, as staff guests will quarantine the requisite 7 days upon arriving in the bubble.
The NBA is allowing team staff to bring guests into the bubble starting with the conference finals, per memo shared with teams.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 8, 2020
Prior to the announcement, Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone called it “criminal in nature” that coaches and other staffers were not allowed to have guests.
“First, I’m going to say something that has nothing to do with your question,” Malone began. “This is day No. 60, and the reason I bring that up is because the players have their families here, which they deserve. It’s the right thing to do. The referees are allowed to bring one guest, which is great for the referees. The coaches are not allowed to bring anybody. I say shame on you, NBA.
“This is crazy. I miss my family, and I think I speak for me, I speak for my coaches and probably all the coaches down here. Sixty days and not having access and not being granted the privilege to have my family come here, to me, is criminal in nature and that shouldn’t be at all, so I wanted to get that off my chest.”
Other coaches around the league had also expressed a wish to have family on campus, including Erik Spoelstra from the Miami Heat.
“I think it’s great that the league acknowledged it and listened to our feedback about it,” said Spoelstra. “Just that acknowledgement and empathy of understanding that everybody has had to make a sacrifice. We are all active participants in this.
"Make no mistake about it, we all want to make this work. These are not normal times. You have to do things with great discipline and adherence.”