Daryl Morey Says Rockets 'Would Never Stand' for Mike D'Antoni Not Coaching

Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey told ESPN's Jackie MacMullan that his team will be having head coach Mike D'Antoni on the floor when the NBA resumes play on July 31 despite concerns raised by commissioner Adam Silver regarding older coaches working courtside along players amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Mike will be coaching our team. It would be such a huge disadvantage to lose him. We would never stand for that.

"In fairness to the league, they set up a process whereby everyone will have to submit a medical record. I'm sure the doctors told them that some people over a certain age shouldn't go. But Mike is in great health. He's in better shape than some 40-year-old coaches we have. Besides, I think his dad lived to be 108 or something."

Per the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, "older adults and people who have severe underlying medical conditions like heart or lung disease or diabetes seem to be at higher risk for developing more serious complications from COVID-19 illness." D'Antoni will be 70 years old next May.

Silver has expressed concern about older head coaches being courtside with players during games when the league resumes play on July 31 after a near-five-month suspension because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the following on TNT's Inside the NBA on Thursday, per ESPN's Tim Bontemps:

"I think one of the things we know, we've learned a lot about the virus since we shut down in March, and the data is demonstrating that for the most part, and there are exceptions, that [it is] healthy young people that are the least vulnerable. But there are also people involved in this league, particularly some of the coaches, who are obviously older people and we also know people at any age who have underlying conditions are most vulnerable.

"So we are going to have to work through protocols that maybe, for example, certain coaches may not be able to be the bench coach. They may have to retain social distancing protocols. And maybe they can be in the front of a room, a locker room or a ballroom with a whiteboard, but when it comes to actual play we're not going to want them that close to players in order to protect them. So those are all issues that we are continuing to work through."

Three other coaches who will be leading teams that will take part in the league's resumption of play at ESPN's Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida, are 60 or older in the San Antonio Spurs' Gregg Popovich (71), the Portland Trail Blazers' Terry Stotts (62) and the Dallas Mavericks' Rick Carlisle (60).

Morey's remarks come amid news from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe that NBA team personnel will be mandated to send their personal medical histories to a group of doctors, who will then review whether they are at significant risk of illness because of COVID-19 while in the league's Disney World bubble.

"It is unclear what authority, if any, that panel might have in prohibiting any personnel from attending the league's restart—or placing limitations upon them—but there is some anxiety about such limitations among teams, sources said."

Per Lowe and Wojnarowski, D'Antoni has been "publicly and privately frustrated" with the idea that they may not be allowed to coach their teams on the sidelines or even allowed at Walt Disney World.

Twenty-two of the league's 30 teams will be headed to Florida to finish the 2019-20 season. All teams will play eight regular-season games before a standard 16-team playoff that is scheduled to end no later than October 12.