On Wednesday night, moments before the Oklahoma City Thunder were to tip off their contest against the Utah Jazz, the game was abruptly postponed. With the NBA preparing for disruption as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, fans and media alike assumed the worst — that the abrupt postponement was somehow related to the virus.
After several minutes, it was announced that the game would be postponed and fans began to file out of Chesapeake Energy Arena. Although the exact reasoning for the postponement wasn’t announced, players on each team were asked to return to their respective locker rooms, where they, according to Tony Jones of The Athletic, were then quarantined.
Both teams and lockerrooms are currently quarantined. Nobody has left Chesapeake Arena
— Tony Jones (@Tjonesonthenba) March 12, 2020
Royce Jones, who covers the Oklahoma City Thunder for ESPN, put out the initial report that notified the masses of the postponement and also reported on television that no player had left the arena more than 20 minutes following the announcement that the game had been postponed.
About half an hour after the Jazz-Thunder game was cancelled, @royceyoung reports that players have not left the arena and are being kept in their respective locker rooms. pic.twitter.com/ABtSBXQ0ot
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 12, 2020
Young didn’t appear to know exactly why the postponement occurred or why the players were asked to remain in their locker room, but the belief at the time seemed to be that both were related to the health of the public. With fears of possible coronavirus exposure on the minds of many, and the City of San Francisco issuing a temporary ban on public gatherings of more than 1,000 people, this is certainly disconcerting news for the NBA’s fans, media and personnel, as well as the general public.