ANOTHER Basketball Star Diagnosed with Coronavirus One Day After NBA Season is Suspended indefinitely
Shane Trejo
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Another NBA star has been diagnosed with coronavirus less than a day after the league announced they will be suspending their season indefinitely to deal with the ongoing pandemic.
Utah Jazz player and NBA all-star Donovan Mitchell has been diagnosed with the virus, becoming the second member of the Jazz to become stricken with the illness. His teammate Rudy Gobert has also been diagnosed with coronavirus.
According to ESPN reporter Adrian Wojnarowski, Gobert was “touching other players and their belongings” in the locker room, perhaps out of his disbelief in the seriousness of the coronavirus outbreak.
Jazz star Donovan Mitchell has tested positive for the coronavirus, league sources tell ESPN. Jazz players privately say that Rudy Gobert had been careless in the locker room touching other players and their belongings. Now a Jazz teammate has tested positive.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 12, 2020
Big League Politics reported on how Gobert went out of his way to touch recorders and microphones during a press conference earlier this week:
Shortly before he was officially diagnosed with coronavirus, NBA star Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz went out of his way to contaminate various microphones and recorders at a press conference by touching them with his hands.
Apparently Gobert was attempting to make a joke about the hysteria over the coronavirus with his display during a Monday press conference, which has to be seen to be believed.
Here’s Rudy Gobert touching a bunch of reporters’ audio equipment 2 days ago. Today, he tested positive for coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/Z3Lw1yfCfW
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) March 12, 2020
On Wednesday, Gobert was diagnosed with coronavirus, and his contamination has resulted in the entire NBA season being suspended. The scheduled Utah Jazz-Oklahoma City Thunder game was called off when Gobert’s illness was discovered.
“The NBA is suspending game play following the conclusion of tonight’s schedule of games until further notice,” the league announced in a statement issued right after 9:30 p.m. E.S.T. “The NBA will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic.”
It is feared that Gobert may have contaminated other NBA players during a string of recent games before he started exhibiting symptoms for coronavirus.
Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19 and the NBA suspended its season immediately.
These are the games Gobert has participated in over the last two weeks. https://t.co/N54yrPrzWL pic.twitter.com/GK0q5pK0bO
— patrick (@muldowney) March 12, 2020
Others have speculated that the entire league could be infected based upon analysis done with the recent NBA schedule.
All 30 NBA teams can be connected in just the last 5 days.
The NBA made the right decision to suspend this season. pic.twitter.com/jUy3X5zwTj
— StatMuse (@statmuse) March 12, 2020
The Jazz franchise has reported that the “individual’s symptoms diminished over the course of today,” referring to Gobert. They noted that the “preliminary positive result came back right before tip-off” so everyone was forced to leave the game in Oklahoma City after they had already arrived to the arena.
“We are working closely with the CDC, Oklahoma and Utah state officials and the NBA to determine how to best move forward as we gather more information,'” the Jazz said in a statement. “The individual is currently in the care of health officials in Oklahoma City. In coordination with the NBA and state officials, we will provide updates at the appropriate time.”
Other NBA players are being tested, and Big League Politics will report if any more professional athletes or their fans test positive for coronavirus due in part to these reckless actions.
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