2020 NBA Bubble

The 2020 NBA Bubble was the bio-secure bubble at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando, that was created by the National Basketball Association (NBA) to protect its players from the COVID-19 pandemic during the final eight games of the 2019–20 regular season and throughout the 2020 NBA playoffs. 22 out of the 30 NBA teams were invited to participate (the other eight had been eliminated from playoff contention) with games being held behind closed doors at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and the teams staying at Disney World hotels.

The bubble was a $190 million investment by the NBA to protect its 2019–20 season, which was initially suspended by the pandemic on March 11, 2020. The bubble recouped an estimated $1.5 billion in revenue. In June, the NBA approved the plan to resume the season at Disney World, inviting the 22 teams that were within six games of a playoff spot when the season was suspended. The plan initially received a mixed reaction from players and coaches.

After playing three exhibition scrimmages inside the bubble in late July, the invited teams played eight additional regular season games to determine playoff seeding. The playoffs began on August 17, and the NBA Finals began on September 30. During the playoffs, there were additional delays to the season prompted by activism related to the shooting of Jacob Blake. The season ended on October 11 when the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Miami Heat in six games. From the start of the resumed 2019–20 season until the end of the NBA Finals, the NBA ended with no recorded cases of COVID-19 for the teams participating in the bubble.

The NBA Bubble in some form has been made into a contingency plan for the NBA in future pandemics or major disease outbreaks.