The worst has happened in the NBA. The threat of COVID-19, also known as coronavirus, has officially hit the league. The game in Oklahoma City between the Thunder and the Utah Jazz was postponed and then Jazz center Rudy Gobert has reportedly been tested positive for coronavirus.
That has led to the league taking every precaution and they are now suspending play for the rest of the season. This comes at a weird time for the league after the Philadelphia 76ers just knocked off the Detroit Pistons 124-106 on Wednesday.
“We have great leadership in the NBA, we’ll follow their lead,” said general manager Elton Brand. “It’s important that fans, players, coaching staff, our staff here with the Sixers remain healthy and we’ll do everything we can, but we believe in the leadership of the league.”
The biggest thing that is cause for concern right now for the Sixers is that the Pistons just faced the Jazz on Saturday night and that was Gobert’s last game. So, now there is a real possibility that the Pistons had the virus and it passed on to the Sixers.
“We’re not going to speculate on what we’re going to do,” Brand said. “We’re going to regroup, we just learned about this five minutes ago. It’s the utmost importance that our fans, our players, and our staff feel safe and we are safe.”
Now the question becomes was it even responsible to play this game? Considering how fast this thing is spreading, was it responsible for everybody involved to play this game?
“If you follow the league, and you have to have faith in the league, and we do and Adam Silver is an amazing leader,” said coach Brett Brown. “We’re apart of this NBA brotherhood and the instruction was to come in and play the game. If you look at the proactive measures our club has taken and the league has taken, I think they should be applauded.”
In terms of what comes next? This is still to be determined. This is a very serious issue at this time.
“It’s a sensitive issue, obviously, it must be a very serious situation for the league to make the decision they have made and we look forward to learning more over the next few hours,” Brown added. “As Elton has just said, we only as an organization just learned about this.”
Following Rudy Gobert's positive COVID-19 test, the NBA is in an indefinite suspension. https://t.co/h7YpWMrvGE
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 12, 2020
Public health and safety is absolutely the top priority at this time. The big question now becomes when does the season begin again? That answer will come in due time. [lawrence-related id=27533,27526,27519]