Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr is in favour of minicamps for the teams who will not participate when the NBA season resumes after the COVID-19 crisis.
The NBA has been on hiatus since March due to the coronavirus pandemic but the league is set to restart at Walt Disney Resort near Orlando, Florida in July.
The NBA has confirmed plans for 22 teams to relaunch the 2019-20 campaign, with a tentative resumption date of July 31.
Golden State are among the eight franchises that will not feature at Disney World – the Warriors finishing their season with a league-worst 15-50 record in the Western Conference.
Kerr, whose Warriors were ravaged by injuries this season, hopes the NBA will allow the eight teams to conduct a minicamp ahead of the 2020-21 season.
"The league has been great about working with us on potential minicamps," Kerr told reporters on a conference call on Tuesday. "We definitely need to get our team together for a period of time.
"I don't know for how long, but we definitely need to be together and have some practice sessions. Given that 22 of the teams are going to be allowed to do so for minimum of a couple weeks' practice and a couple weeks' games, while the rest of us are not part of that, the league is sensitive to giving us the space that we're going to need. So we're still in touch with the league about what that means.
"I think what I would like as a coach is a couple weeks of practice at least, maybe two different blocks of a couple of weeks where we can bring guys in, health permitting and regulations permitting, of course, given the virus, but if we could have a couple different blocks where our players could come in, work with our training staff, we get them on the court, almost like an OTA [organised team activities] for an NFL team where we can install some things for next year, think about what we want to accomplish and get some practice sessions in. I think it would bridge the gap towards a more normal offseason and then lead us into next season in a healthier frame of mind."
"That's one reason why I think it's important to mix in a couple of minicamps so that we can knock off some of that rust or staleness whatever you want to call it," Kerr continued. "But who are we to complain? We complained enough about not having any time off over the last five years, so we can't now turn around and say we've got too much time off, so we're just going to take advantage of what we can and use the rest and use the time wisely.
"I know that our players, whenever we come in to prepare for next season, our players are going to be rarin' to go. I think in the end, it will be a positive step no matter how this plays out."
On the participation of Golden State's star Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, Kerr added: "Oh, yeah. 100 per cent. I would not consider this voluntary workouts.
"Obviously, these are really unique circumstances, but given that we would be staring at a nine-month break, to be perfectly honest I would be shocked if any one of those three guys said to me, 'No, I don't want the work.' They all know they need the work. And we all need the work, so they'll be there."