Plans were made for the Utah Jazz to stay at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City overnight following coronavirus tests, according to ESPN’s Royce Young.
Center Rudy Gobert was diagnosed with the virus shortly before tipoff was scheduled against the OKC Thunder.
The game was initially delayed and postponed before the NBA announced the season would be suspended indefinitely.
Players from both teams were quarantined at the arena following the announcement. The Thunder were in the locker room for about three hours, where they had a fever test but no virus test, according to Young. They were allowed to depart around 10 p.m.
I was told the Thunder did not have a virus test done. They’ve been following league and Oklahoma health protocols, taking their steps in consultation from them.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) March 12, 2020
The Jazz, meanwhile, were forced to wait until almost 10:30 before a group of people arrived to test them, according to Young.
Tests were completed around 11:30. Results were expected to take about four hours.
Players were to stay at the arena and were not allowed to fly home.
Reporting with @wojespn: Nurses have finished testing Jazz players who were at the arena and will process it overnight. For now, players are staying at the arena and aren't permitted to fly home. They're exploring chartering buses to get team back to Utah.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) March 12, 2020
Around 11:40, Young tweeted that plans were being made for the Jazz players to remain at the arena overnight.
Team personnel was being tested at the hotel at the time of his tweet.
Gobert was not at the arena, though he was in Oklahoma City in case he was cleared to play.
Results on the Jazz players' tests should be available in roughly four hours. Plans are being made for the Jazz players to stay overnight at the arena. Other team personnel is still being tested at the team hotel.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) March 12, 2020
Teams who have faced the Jazz in the last 10 days have been told to self-quarantine, according to ESPN.
Those teams are the Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors. ESPN did not mention the Thunder on its list.
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