Serge Ibaka: Raptors are 'locked in' for NBA resumption in Orlando

The Toronto Raptors currently aren't the top seed in the Eastern Conference, but they'll certainly be looking to defend their NBA title come playoff time.

Serge Ibaka, who has been with the Raptors since the 2016-17 season, is fully confident in his teams' capabilities heading into Orlando, said on a conference call with reporters Saturday, according to ESPN's Tim Bontemps:

"I saw just how everyone is in great shape. They came here in great shape and as soon as we got here everyone was starting to put in work. I've been in the league for 11 years. You can see when people's locked in and they are ready mentally, and when they are not.

"So I can tell you right now, mentally, everybody is ready. Everybody is ready."

The Raptors were able to travel to Florida before everyone else due to complications with coronavirus restrictions from the Canadian government. Toronto has been practicing at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers and will soon travel to the NBA's bubble at Walt Disney World.

Toronto became one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference this season despite the departure of superstar Kawhi Leonard. The Raptors were on pace to win 59 games before the season was halted due to COVID-19, though holding on to their second-place spot may be difficult with the schedule they have ahead in Orlando. 

The Raptors finally have many of their players back from injury, though, and could prove to be a threat to the first-place Milwaukee Bucks. The Boston Celtics could drive a knife into those plans, however, as they also now have a fully healthy roster ahead of the season resumption. 

Among the biggest fears of the Orlando tournament is the possibility of being infected with the coronavirus. With the rising number of coronavirus cases in Florida, Ibaka, like many, is worried about the possibility of testing positive for the virus and noted that it's quite concerning. 

While Ibaka is worried, the NBA has some solid health and safety protocols in place to reduce the risk of being infected with the coronavirus. In order to reduce the risks of spreading, any player who tests positive for the coronavirus will be placed in "isolation housing" and take another test to confirm that they're positive, per The Athletic's Shams Charania. A player must then test negative twice before returning to the NBA's Disney campus.

Every player will be tested nightly while on campus, and the results are expected to come in the morning. The NBA is in discussions with national coronavirus testing providers such as BioReference Laboratories, LabCorp, Quest Diagnostics and Vault Health/RUCDR Infinite Biologics at Rutgers to finalize its testing program, Charania reports.