After the Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA Finals Sunday night against the Miami Heat, the NBA bubble down in Walt Disney World officially came to a close. For 107 days, the NBA took on the tough task and it ended up being a success.
One reporter who was down in Florida covering the action from the beginning to the end was ESPN’s Malika Andrews, who has become one of the rising stars in the industry. On the latest ESPN Daily with Pablo Torre, she talked to Torre before she left the bubble and when she got home to New York City and reflected on what life was like in Orlando and how it feels now that she’s back.
During part of this podcast, she was joined by her producer, Malinda Adams, who was with Andrews for all 107 days in Orlando. As the bubble was beginning, Andrews mentioned that people joked with her about how her quarantine time was over and considering what has gone on in the United States, it was something that bothered her.
“When I first got here, there were a lot of folks who joked when you got out of quarantine, you served your time and that always bothered me mainly because when you look at prison systems in the United States, that has been a hot bed for Coronavirus in many cases and so they couldn’t be more different than the discomfort that folks who are incarcerated here in the United States are going through.”
Andrews and Adams had worked together before the bubble as Andrews said they worked together during the Eastern Conference Finals last season. However, when you are stuck in one place for a long period of time, that bond can continue to grow.
That bond extended over to the people that Andrews and Adams were around daily inside of the bubble. While Andrews mentions that as a reporter, it is important to set boundaries with the people you cover, this experience, naturally, tended to be a little different.
“I have long maintained that an important pillar of what we do is setting boundaries with the people you cover. I grow very fond of people I cover, but I try to make sure a friendship could never come between asking the necessary, hard questions that need to be asked. But, I do think there’s something bonding about this experience. Everyone became creatures of habit there and you got to know people’s quirks, habits, routines. We gave a hug to Heather in the mail room and Pam in the package room, people I never would have met.”
Both of them reflected on their own memories of what went on in Orlando, but one moment stood out where Adams not only had to play producer, but she had to put on her reporter hat as well as the Bucks were about to boycott Game 5 of their first round series against the Magic.
“When the Milwaukee Bucks elected to boycott, it was Malinda who was following the Orlando Magic side of it because I could only be in one place. She was the one who was texting me, the Magic are on the court, they left the court. It was one of the things where she was a reporter down here,” said Andrews.
So, now back in New York, what does Andrews think now about the NBA season not having a firm date for the 2021 season? She brought up there is some anxiety about no official date being mentioned yet.
“Well, part of the reason that I think there was a bittersweet feeling to the end of the bubble in addition to the fact there were many close relationships built, the fact that it was something that felt safe, I think the other thing that makes it a little bit sad and anxiety-provoking is that there isn’t a firm date for the restart of the season yet.”
