"The NBA lockout has thrown up a barrier between the league's players and the rest of the employees of the team.

And in the process, these roadblocks can get in the way of some pretty strong friendships.

Manu Ginobili seemed to hint at that over the weekend when he tweeted his birthday wishes to Spurs trainer Will Sevening.

Ginobili and Sevening have developed a strong relationship over the years, considering that Ginobili has missed 105 regular-season games and six more playoff games during his nine-season NBA career.

Sevening has been there for numerous cuts, abrasions, broken bones and bruises over the years from Ginobili, who is known affectionately among the Spurs as "El Contusion" because of all those injuries.

The two friends can't converse as normal over the summer. No summer cookouts among their families. Not even a birthday e-mail.

For all we know, the NBA's thought police might be monitoring Sevening's ability to read tweets from Spurs players."