48 NBA players have COVID-19 before season starts

Forty-eight NBA players tested positive for COVID-19, the league said on Wednesday (December 2).

It had tested hundreds of players as part of what its calling an 'initial return-to-market testing phase.'

The players are returning to their teams' home markets to get ready for the 2020-2021 season, set to start later this month.

The league's only non-U.S. team, the Canadian Toronto Raptors, are the exception. They face tight international travel restrictions and will start the season in Tampa, Florida.

Across the NBA, individual player workouts start this week and group workouts begin Sunday.

Last season's "bubble" environment at Walt Disney World faced few issues protecting players and staff from the coronavirus, but the upcoming season faces many of the same challenges as other sports leagues in a landscape thoroughly upended by the pandemic.

Both the national football and baseball leagues grappled with game postponements and positive COVID-19 cases, as athletes traveled from city to city.

Hospitalizations in the U.S. hit a record number for a fourth consecutive day this week as COVID-19 cases soar.