Not that it was a glaring issue before, but the Mavericks’ Jason Kidd and the NBA’s other 29 head coaches are more likely to have their players’ undivided attention at halftime.
That’s because the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association issued a joint memorandum to teams prohibiting players and coaches from turning on cellphones or similar devices during halftime.
It’s a revision, reinforcement and crackdown against lapses in a policy that originally was instituted in 2009, prohibiting social media usage starting 45 minutes before tip-off until postgame media interviews conclude.
“It’s something the league and the Players Association came to agreement on,” Kidd said, specifically citing NBPA President CJ McCollum of New Orleans and ex-president Chris Paul of San Antonio. “They thought it was a good idea and the league thought it was a good idea, so they adopted it.
“It’s cool [by me].”
Dwight Powell, the Mavericks’ players association representative and a former NBPA board member, said it was a nonissue for many players and him specifically because “I never look at my phone [at halftime].”
According to multiple people with knowledge of the updated policy, all players and coaches must leave their phones turned off during halftime, the exception being one designated staff member whose phone can be on to field calls or texts in the event of emergency.
Discussion of athletes with phones in locker rooms brings to mind Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs emerging from the locker room, moments after the Oct. 27 loss in San Francisco, to confront a reporter who had on the X platform questioned Diggs’ effort on a long 49ers catch and run by George Kittle.
Three days later Diggs apologized: “I shouldn’t [have] reacted the way I reacted. ... Most of it caught me at the right time.”
Asked why he believes the NBA is reenforcing the policy, Kidd said: “I would say for the guys to talk [to each other] at halftime,” instead of looking at their phones.
Certainly there is heightened awareness throughout the NBA about players and coaches communicating via text, phone calls or social media outside the sanctity of their team’s inner circle.
Late last season Toronto center Jontay Porter was banned by the NBA after a Colorado Division of Gaming flagged suspicious bets surrounding Porter’s statistics. The NBA found that during a March 20 game against Sacramento, Porter “disclosed confidential information about his own health status.”
By strictly prohibiting cellphone use by players and coaches before, during and after games, the NBA is taking extra measure toward its long-held stance on preserving the league’s integrity.
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