Si Gregg Popovich ng San Antonio Spurs, 71 na. Si Mike D’Antoni ng Houston Rockets, 68. Kaka-65 lang ni Alvin Gentry ng New Orleans Pelicans.

Senior citizens na ang tatlo.

Ang mga taong 65-anyos pataas, ibayong pinag-iingat dahil sila ang mas kinakapitan ng coronavirus disease.

Kaya may panukala si NBA commissioner Adam Silver na huwag pasamahin ang tatlo kapag itinuloy ang 74th season sa pamamagitan ng ‘seeding games’ sa Orlando, Florida sa July.

“There are people involved in this league, particularly coaches, who are obviously older people,” paliwanag ni Silver. “We’re going to have to work through protocols, for example, and it may be certain coaches may not be able to be the bench coach. They may have to maintain social distancing protocols, and maybe they can be in the front of a room, a locker room … with a whiteboard, but when it comes to actual play we’re not going to want that that close to players in order to protect them.”

“That doesn’t make sense. How can I coach that way?” buwelta ni Gentry, ayon sa ulat ni Ramona Shelburne ng ESPN.

Posibleeng mag-mask ang mga nasa bench.

“I am sure they want to keep everyone safe, but to start singling people out with more risk, well, I would hope they wouldn’t want to get into that,” wika ni D’Antoni kay Adrian Wojnarowski ng ESPN.

Wala pang statement si Popovich, pinakamatanda sa tatlo.

No. 12 sa West ang Spurs (27-36), No. 6 ang Rockets (40-24) at No. 10 ang Pelicans (28-36).

“It’s entirely possible that an NBA coach in his 60’s or 70’s could be healthier than someone in their 30’s or 40’s,” ani NBA Coaches Association president Rick Carlisle ng Dallas Mavericks. “The conversation should never be solely about a person’s age. Adam assured me that we would work through this together to help determine what is both safe and fair for all of our coaches.”

Tinawagan agad ni Carlisle si Silver pagkatapos ng pahayag ng commissioner sa TNT. (Vladi Eduarte)