Tag: COVID-19

OKC Thunder news: How Paul George’s COVID case could affect the Clippers first-round pick

PG catching COVID could create lottery chaos for OKC

The LA Clippers missing Paul George due to testing positive for COVID-19 could have massive ramifications for where its 2022 first-round pick — which the Oklahoma City Thunder own unprotected — could fall.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news on Friday morning, saying that George entered health and safety protocols due to a positive test. The Clippers are facing elimination with a game on Friday against the New Orleans Pelicans that determine the eighth seed who faces the Phoenix Suns in the First Round of the playoffs. The Clippers are forced to play this game after its loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday which determined the seventh seed.

According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, if the Clippers win, then the Thunder will be picking 15th overall; if the Clippers lose, then the Thunder will have the 12th-best lottery odds on top of its own fourth-best lottery odds.

George averaged 24.3 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.7 assists in 31 games this season. The Clippers will host the Pelicans on Friday night with a 9 p.m. CT tip.

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Celtics’ Al Horford ‘declares himself fully vaccinated’ in new Boston Globe interview despite reports to the contrary

Lingering doubt on Boston’s player vaccination status prompted the admission.

The Boston Celtics have found themselves the focus of COVID player vaccination speculation in recent weeks following several starters sitting for a game against the Toronto Raptors in Canada in late March due to the country’s policy on not allowing unvaccinated athletes to play in Raptors home games.

Specifically, veteran big man Al Horford and star forward Jaylen Brown were singled out as likely players to that end, and despite statements from both that they would indeed be available to play in a series with Toronto, that speculation refused to go away due to reluctance from both to state exactly what their COVID vaccination status is.

Brown has since gone on record to relate that his role as a National Basketball Players’ Association (NBPA) vice president has put him in a position to safeguard such information and to fight that it remains private, often referring to vaccination as a “personal choice.”

Notre Dame’s Maya Dodson denied sixth year of eligibility by NCAA

Best wishes in her professional career.

Notre Dame forward Maya Dodson was in a no-lose situation. If the NCAA denied her request for a sixth year of eligibility, she could instead prepare for the upcoming WNBA draft. Well, it’s time for her to start thinking about her professional career because the NCAA denied her appeal. With her collegiate career officially over, she took to social media to profess her gratitude to the Irish:

Dodson came to the Irish for the 2021-22 season after transferring from Stanford. Injuries limited her to nine games in 2019-20, and she opted out of the COVID-19-hampered 2020-21 season. By doing so, she was not eligible for the extra year of eligibility that the NCAA gave those who played that season. That made the appeal process necessary.

In her lone season with the Irish, Dodson was named to the All-ACC First Team and All-Defensive Team. She led the team in rebounds (7.3) and blocks (2.8) a game while also placing second in scoring (12.6).

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Celtics’ Jaylen Brown points to VP duties in Player’s Union for vax status sidesteps

He affirmed his potential availability in any series as did teammate Al Horford recently, however.

The Boston Celtics recently found themselves the subject of speculation regarding the COVID-19 vaccination status of their players in light of a potential series against the Toronto Raptors in a city with a vaccine mandate requiring vaccination to play.

The Celtics have had a longstanding policy that seems to come directly from ownership to avoid discussing all things related to COVID-19 directly with the media as it pertains to their players and staff. The Union has had similar stances that have at times put them at odds with public health advocates, adding fuel to speculation the Celtics might still have holdouts despite reporting to the contrary.

Asked about his potential availability in such a series and the surrounding controversy resulting from the stances mentioned above, star forward Jaylen Brown had plenty to say after Boston’s blowout win over the Washington Wizards.

Celtics Lab 100: All-NBA, all vaccinated (?), and almost being done with the regular season with Kwani Lunis

The season is almost over, and with it come questions of excellence and postseason availability we do our best to address with Kwani Lunis of The A-List podcast and NBC 10.

The Boston Celtics have at least one player likely to land on an All-NBA team for the 2021-22 season in All-Star forward Jayson Tatum, but due to his eligibility at both guard and forward for the honor (to say nothing of the positional flexibility afforded some stars but not others), it remains unclear whether the St. Louis native will end up with first, second, or third team honors.

Uncertainty also abounds in the team’s media coverage with potential playoff eligibility in a series against the Toronto Raptors with speculation abounding regarding the vaccination status of all Celtics players in light of Toronto’s vaccine mandate.

In this episode of the CLNS Media “Celtics Lab” podcast, we team up with “The A-List” podcast host and NBC 10 Boston broadcaster Kwani A. Lunis to talk through these forward-looking issues.

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Join your usual hosts Cameron Tabatabaie, Alex Goldberg, and Justin Quinn as we do our best to suss out where Tatum (and the rest of the league’s best players) should be honored by the league and more.

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This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook!

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Virginia Tech’s Emily Mahar reunites with Australian family after two-plus years at Augusta National Women’s Amateur

Family reunions are fun, especially when they take place in Augusta.

EVANS, Ga. — Unlike most of the field, Emily Mahar didn’t know she’d be competing in this week’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur until about a week ago.

The Virginia Tech senior was getting ready with her team for their practice round before the recent Clemson Invitational when her phone started to ring. It was one of the ANWA directors.

“He was like, ‘Yeah, we have a spot. Do you want to play?’ I think (head coach Carol Robertson) kind of knew,” said Mahar after her practice round earlier this week at Champions Retreat Golf Club, host of the first two rounds of play. “She hadn’t told me officially, but she was like, ‘There are alternate spots. Maybe you have one of them.’ I looked at her, and she looked at me, and I shook my head. Everyone kind of knew. It was really cool to share that moment with the team.”

Fast forward to Wednesday’s first round, where she got to share the real thing with her family. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the native of Brisbane, Australia, hadn’t seen her family in two and a half years. The 14-hour time difference made it difficult for her to break the big news, but as soon as her family got the call they booked plane tickets.

Social media and FaceTime have been helpful for the Mahar’s to stay in touch, but nothing beats a face-to-face reunion, let alone before the first round of one of the biggest women’s golf events in the world. For the Mahar’s, that dream reunion became a reality. Not only that, they were able to watch Emily shoot a respectable 4-over 76 in windy conditions to finish the day T-39, just outside the top-30 cut for Saturday’s final round down the road at Augusta National Golf Club.

“We’ve all been golf fans, so we know a lot about the Masters and Augusta and now to share that moment with them is super special,” said Mahar.

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Are the Boston Celtics trying to dodge public knowledge of the vaccination status of their players?

Or could there be more at play here with some perhaps intentionally-vague comments by members of the organization when asked about this topic in recent days?

The Boston Celtics have found themselves in the midst of speculation that they could have players on their roster unable to make the trip to Toronto to play the Raptors due to Canadian regulations on the status of players’ COVID-19 vaccination after a story by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps cast doubt on the entire roster being available to play in such a scenario.

“When asked directly within the past 24 hours if their teams are fully vaccinated … the Boston Celtics … declined to comment,” wrote Bontemps, ” … opening the possibility that both teams could potentially be missing players in road games of a first-round playoff series against the Toronto Raptors.”

Noting Boston had four players who sat out in the team’s recent road game against the Raptors, ESPN related that Robert Williams was out due to his torn meniscus and that Jayson Tatum had previously stated he’d been vaccinated.

OKC Thunder news: Steven Adams returns to Oklahoma City to play in front of crowd in over two years

This is the first time Steven Adams has played in front of an OKC crowd since March 3, 2020.

Memphis Grizzlies center Steven Adams makes his long-awaited return back to Oklahoma City in front of a live crowd on Sunday for the first time since being traded by the franchise in 2020.

Adams played his first seven seasons with the Thunder from 2013 to 2020, where he averaged 9.8 points and 7.6 rebounds in 530 career games. In terms of where Adams ranks in the franchise in terms of all-time statistical leaders, the 28-year-old is ranked second in offensive rebounds, seventh in total rebounds, fifth in blocks and first in field goal percentage.

Now while this is the first time Adams has played in front of an Oklahoma City crowd in over two years, this is not the first time he’s returned to play in the city. Adams played a game last season at Oklahoma City, but did it in front of an empty arena as the Thunder played the entirety of the 2020-21 season without fans.

Being an all-time favorite due to his playstyle and personality, expect to hear a roaring ovation for Adams before the game starts on Sunday.

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OKC Thunder news: Two year anniversary of the chaotic Jazz vs. Thunder game that never happened due to COVID-19

What were you doing on the infamous day?

It’s officially been two years since the infamous Utah Jazz vs. Oklahoma City Thunder game that never started due to Jazz center Rudy Gobert testing positive for COVID-19. Moments before tipoff, the NBA decided to cancel the game due to Gobert’s positive case, which was the first known case in the league.

The Thunder entered the game just a full game back from the Jazz for a top-four seed in the Western Conference standings. A home win would mean that the Thunder would be a top-four seed just a month before the season initially was supposed to end.

Instead, March 11, 2020 is known for being the day that the NBA suspended its season as COVID-19 hit the United States drastically. The NBA would restart its season in late July in the NBA Bubble, where the Thunder would lose to the Houston Rockets in seven games in the First Round of the playoffs.

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Will Richardson to miss the Pac-12 tournament due to non-COVID illness

Oregon is going to be without point guard Will Richardson for the Pac-12 tournament due to a non-COVID illness.

As if the Oregon Ducks men’s basketball team needed this news.

Point guard Will Richardson, who was just named Second-Team All-Conference, will miss this week’s Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas due what is being called a “non-COVID related illness.”

Richardson missed the regular-season finale at Washington State on Sunday. He was cut in the head during the USC game Feb. 26 and received stitches at halftime during that contest. But he hasn’t been the same player since. He was 0-of-8 from the field with two points against the Trojans and was 0-of-3 with no points at Washington, although he did grab seven rebounds.

The Ducks need to win four games in four games in Vegas in order to make the NCAA tournament and missing their star point guard will only make that task more difficult. Richardson was averaging 14.4 points a game to go with 3.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists.

Oregon opens the conference tourney with the Beavers on Wednesday. They’re scheduled to tip off at 2:30 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network.