Nuggets' Malone: 'Shame' on NBA for not allowing coaches' families in bubble

Denver Nuggets head coach Mike Malone delivered a strong message to the NBA's head office regarding its policy restricting family members from joining him and his fellow coaches on the Disney World campus.

"The players have their families here, which they deserve, which is the right thing to do. The referees are allowed to bring one guest, which is great for the referees. The coaches - the coaches are not allowed to bring anybody," Malone told reporters Friday. "I say, 'Shame on you, NBA.'"

A limited number of family members and close friends were able to join the players within the bubble following the first round of the playoffs. Malone doesn't understand why the league won't extend the same courtesy to the coaches.

"This is crazy. I miss my family," Malone added. "And I think I speak for me, I speak for my coaches, and probably all the coaches down here. Sixty days and not having access and not being granted the privilege to have my family come here, to me, is criminal in nature. And that shouldn't be. Shouldn't be at all."

The NBA later responded to Malone's comments.

"Due to the highly contagious nature of COVID-19, limiting the number of people on campus was always a top priority," the league said in a statement, according to The Athletic's Sam Amick. "We agreed that players could bring in a limited number of family and close relations beginning with the second round of the playoffs.

"No other team or league staff, including coaches and referees, has guests on campus. We are hoping to add additional family members for other participants, beginning with the conference finals. We are mindful of the incredible hardship these restrictions impose and wish it were not necessary for the health and safety of everyone involved."

The players have also had regrets about signing on to the NBA's closed-campus plan without fully understanding the scope of the restrictions, even with their families now joining them.

"(If) we do another bubble, we can't do it without family," Los Angeles Lakers veteran Jared Dudley told GQ's Michael Pina earlier this week. "That's something that cannot happen. You can't wait until after the first round. We shouldn't have signed off on that."

"Not only can (people outside the bubble) not understand but some of the rules we didn't even know until we got here. It's not like we knew exactly what we were getting into," Dudley added.