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Eric Bledsoe is not in Orlando yet to do a positive coronavirus test.
Due to the nature of the situation and HIPAA regulations, NBA teams have not released very much information about which of their players are already in the Orlando bubble and which of them have yet to join their teammates at the Walt Disney Resort.
This has led to fans and reporters alike taking on a weird and twisted kind of detective role to try and figure out which players are still missing from the bubble based on team photos and videos from Orlando.
According to Yahoo! Sports‘ Chris Haynes, Eric Bledsoe is one player who has yet to join his teammates in Florida due to a positive coronavirus test.
As Haynes notes in his report on TNT’s Inside the NBA, Bledsoe is fortunately symptom-free, feels good and is eagerly awaiting the day he can join the rest of the Milwaukee Bucks in the bubble. There’s no reported timetable on when that might be, but Haynes mentions he’ll be able to do so once he clears the league’s protocol for entering the bubble (he’ll have to register consecutive negative COVID-19 tests after quarantining).
In addition to being a bullish defender, Bledsoe has averaged 15.4 points, 5.4 assists and 4.6 rebounds per game on 48.2 percent shooting over his 56 appearances for Milwaukee this season.
It’s unfortunate the Bucks are currently without their starting point guard as they attempt to flip the switch back on after four months away from basketball. There’s still plenty of time between now and the NBA restart on July 31, and even if he’s still not in game shape, they won’t need Bledsoe to be 100 percent acclimated for their eight tune-up games anyway, given that the Bucks have a 6.5-game lead on the Toronto Raptors for the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
However, Milwaukee will be wanting its starting point guard back on the practice court and fully healthy as soon as possible since this team has championship aspirations ahead. In the meantime, here’s hoping for a quick and streamlined recovery process for Bledsoe.