On April 19, 2020, we were just over a month into the COVID-19 lockdown. That period of time feels like a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Along with everything else we were missing, I, and everyone else like me, had gone over a month without playing basketball.
That day, I wrote a piece about trying to locate an outdoor basketball court. Most outdoor courts had been shut down — either by yellow tape, a bolted piece of wood over each rim, or by a padlock in the net. Even worse, some baskets had been treated “most barbarously” by removing the rims entirely, leaving only a blank backboard.