After the Brooklyn Nets released a statement revealing four of the organization’s players had tested positive for COVID-19 but only one had exhibited symptoms, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio wished players a “speedy recovery” on Twitter.
Though, he did express some displeasure:
But, with all due respect, an entire NBA team should NOT get tested for COVID-19 while there are critically ill patients waiting to be tested.
Tests should not be for the wealthy, but for the sick.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver was asked to address these remarks on Wednesday when he appeared on ESPN’s Sportscenter. He left no stone unturned with his explanation:
I, of course, understand his point, and that it’s unfortunate that we’re at this position as a society where it’s triage when it comes to testing and so the fundamental issue, obviously, is there are that there are insufficient tests. I’d only say in the case of the NBA, we’ve been following the recommendations of public health officials. I mean, let me begin with situation in Oklahoma City last Wednesday night [March 11], the Utah Jazz did not ask to be tested. The Oklahoma public health official there, on the spot, not only required that they be tested, but they weren’t allowed to leave their locker room, which was for at least four hours after the game, where they had to stay, masks on in the locker room. They couldn’t leave until the health authorities had tested them.
That was our first case. Then what followed, when they had an additional positive test the next day, the protocol then followed that we were — that we then followed with health officials and our doctors’ recommendations, that we looked at, essentially, that group of teams that were most proximate to the initial team that had tested positive. then that circle expanded from there. So, I understand it, but we’ve had eight NBA teams, full teams, that have been fully tested now and members of other teams that have shown symptoms. And, again, I understand from a public health standpoint why some people have reacted the way they did. But I’d say from an NBA standpoint, we were following directives.
Silver also added:
And I’d just add on top of that, as much credit as people have given the NBA for being a first-mover here — and again, think how much has changed in just a week. When we suspended our season last Wednesday night [March 11], no one, as far as I know, no public health official, certainly no one contacted me and said, ‘The NBA should no longer be playing.’ … But for the fact that we had tested Rudy Gobert, there’s a chance we would have been playing for several more days. … Again, I understand there are many sides to these issues, but I also think that by virtue of an NBA player being tested and the kind of attention it brought, my sense was — especially among young people in the United States — people were not taking these protocols all that seriously until the NBA did what it did.
The NBA commissioner also explained how the league’s players can be defined as super-spreaders because of their age, proximity in which they work with one another, how often they travel and how they deal with large groups often. Silver also added that he “was honestly not all that surprised” by four members of the Nets testing positive for COVID-19
I think, based on what we’re hearing, and given the lack of testing that’s available, my sense is in the New York area that if you took almost any random group of New Yorkers that it would be likely — increasingly likely that there are some positive tests.
Of those four Nets players, only one name has been reported: Kevin Durant.