ORLANDO, Fla. – It’s like walking onto a college campus, except inside, Kyle Goon is in the middle of basketball wonderland within the NBA bubble at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

What You Need To Know

  • Kyle Goon is covering the NBA in the Orlando Bubble Campus

  • For two straight weeks no NBA players in the NBA bubble have tested positive for COVID-19

  • Goon had to be quarantined for a week upon arrival

  • Everyone must be tested everyday in the bubble

“It’s kinda like going into space and seeing that for the first time,” Goon said.

He is covering the Lakers and the Clippers in the bubble for the OC Register. He’s been reporting for 10 years but has never experienced anything like this.

“I could not leave my doorway,” Goon explained. 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hello from the Bubble. I’m at Walt Disney World in Florida where the NBA is attempting to restart its season, and the Lakers are hoping to win a 17th championship as an organization. I’m in the first day of a weeklong quarantine before I will be able to attend practices and games where almost no one is watching live. It’s an incredible opportunity, but obviously one created by a tremendous threat to our country. I hope to cover this restart in a way that is safe but also offers insight into one of the major entertainment enterprises of our nation and how they’re trying to continue through the pandemic. I’ll be doing regular news stories as well as posting diary-like entries in our Purple and Bold newsletter under “Bubble Dribble.” As always, a link to my articles are in my bio. I will also provide updates from this feed and in my stories on what’s going on here — assuming I make it out of quarantine. This isn’t something I take lightly. It is strange to think I could be here for more than three months, but I’m excited to get back to work and hopeful that I can help NBA fans feel like their world might be starting to get closer to normal. I hope that outside the Bubble, leaders take action and people take precautions so that can actually be true. (Note that it is not necessary for me to wear a mask inside my hotel room by myself, but wearing a mask is an easy thing you can do for the health of others and you should do it whenever possible. Better to wear it too much than too little.)

A post shared by Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) on

Before doing anything in the bubble, he had to be quarantined in his hotel room for a week.

“And the only time my door ever opened in the day was to get food or to get tested.”

Those strict protocols show why the NBA has been the most successful league in avoiding any COVID-19 outbreaks.

“If you don’t get tested you can’t work the next day,” Goon said.

For two straight weeks, no NBA players in the bubble have tested positive for COVID-19. So, it seems to be working.

“They took all precautionary reason, measures to make sure we as a league is as safe as we can be,” Lakers superstar LeBron James said.

Even though coronavirus safety measures are pretty tight on campus there are some perks like food and laundry service provided at no extra cost. 

Related Stories

The league is doing everything possible to make life normal for him, his fellow reporters, and the players with sanitized delivery service and barber shops among other amenities.

For the fans at home, Thursday night’s openers gave fans a taste of that old feeling of enjoying watching sports again. But for Goon, there’s no getting used to NBA basketball without fans.

“It’s like watching your favorite movie with no soundtrack,” he said.

Even though, he’s at Disney World, there’s no time for fun. Just work. But it’s just all a part of life in the bubble.