![]() "It's beyond words," said Bernie Lee, the agent for Heat star Jimmy Butler. That is where the ownership groups for both the Lakers and Heat - as well as additional guests for each team - have spent the past week during the NBA Finals.Īt a hotel near Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, these two competing sides - like the teams that also are sharing the bubble - find themselves awkwardly close together for the duration of the series. THE CAMPUS INSIDE the Walt Disney World Resort has always had two parts: the one housing the players, coaches and executives who are competing for a championship and another that is even more out of sight. MORE: Everything that happened inside the NBA bubble ET on ABC).įrom the closing days of bubble life to the evolving protocols that have kept the league safe throughout, here are more unseen moments from inside the NBA's unique campus in central Florida. as soon as we would open."įor James, McGee and the Lakers, the peacefulness of an afternoon bike ride has been replaced by the urgency to close out the Heat in Friday's Game 5 of the NBA Finals (9 p.m. "Because there were four people sitting there waiting for the bikes and we only had four bikes," Dunlap said. "When I went there at 9 a.m.," Dunlap recalled, "there were a bunch of people sitting in the lobby and they were like, 'You can't give this person a bike.'" One time, a bubble dweller thought it would be neat to outsmart the system by asking Dunlap to open the shop an hour early, before anyone else could arrive. Dunlap estimated that most days 100 percent of the bikes were signed out - leading to competition for resources. When players' families arrived, the resort made sure there were baby seats available to rent. "I don't know if they would do it for conditioning or just to relax," Dunlap said. ![]() Through the Denver Nuggets' playoff run, they would sign out a dozen bikes at a time and go on team rides. The outer pathway doubles as an exercise route for Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and Miami Heat assistant general manager Adam Simon to get their daily sweat in. "Our fleet has grown," Dunlap said, detailing how the resort beefed up its bicycle haul by bringing in 10-speed bikes from an outside vendor to have about 50 available to its temporary residents.Ĭoronado Springs converted its health club into a rental counter, where bikes - typically carrying an $11 rental fee per day or $20 overnight for guests - can be signed out free of charge. Perhaps the most popular activity throughout, however, has been bike riding. Cornhole boards and oversize Connect Four games were placed by the pool. Pickleball became a daily pastime for referees. Various outdoor entertainment options were lined up. When NBA officials worked with folks on the ground in Orlando, Florida, during the planning stages for the bubble, there was a central question, according to Dunlap: "What can we offer these guys for several months so they're not going crazy in their rooms?" I had to go out and get a special air compressor tip because he had a special bike and we didn't have that," said Cathy Dunlap, the regional recreation proprietor for Coronado Springs. His Los Angeles Lakers teammate JaVale McGee also has his own bike, though at one point he needed some help from the resort staff. INSIDE THE NBA'S BUBBLE, there is a pathway around the residences - a nearly mile-long loop and a longer, 1.6-mile loop that encompasses the Coronado Springs resort, one of the Disney properties that has become a home away from home for the league.ĭuring the NBA Finals, it hasn't been unusual to see LeBron James whiz by on a Cannondale bike he had shipped to the league's campus. 'This was the NBA's moonshot': Inside the final days of the bubble You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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