NBA Suspends 2019-20 Season After Rudy Gobert Tests Positive For Coronavirus

The NBA has suspended the season indefinitely, the league announces.

Earlier in the night, the league postponed the Jazz-Thunder game due to concerns surrounding the health of the players.

Rudy Gobert and Emmanuel Mudiay were each dealing with an illness prior to the contest. Someone from the Oklahoma City medical staff apparently rushed to the court to alert officials to stop the game. The league then moved the contest.

Rudy Gobert Tests Positive For Coronavirus

Gobert has tested positive for the Coronavirus after being taken to a medical facility in Oklahoma City, per Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Gobert was reportedly not in the arena at game time, though if he had tested negative for the virus, he would have played in the contest.

Earlier in the week, Gobert was one of the players subjected to the new media rules because of the virus. He appeared to not take it very seriously.

Initial Reactions

Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban admitted that he is very concerned about the situation.

“Obviously very concerned, but it’s not necessarily about basketball, obviously it’s much bigger than basketball. I’m concerned about whether my kids have school or not. I’m concerned are we all doing the right thing,” Cuban said after the game.

The Mavericks were just one of the teams last week to hand out Purrell to everyone on staff, in the media and around the team. Cuban said that as of last week, he didn’t have reason to believe that people were being put in danger. However, with more information, came more awareness of the risks.

“Obviously, this is new territory. This is certainly a black swan event in my experiences. Basketball actually becomes secondary. But in terms of basketball, as I said earlier nobody at the Dallas Mavericks is an expert on infectious diseases or their spread. This is not a situation where you fake it till
you make it or try to sound or act important. The NBA has hired people with expertise in those areas and they are working with people in the government and other people with expertise. We have to defer to them and that’s exactly what we’ll do. Effectively, if one player or two players already have it, we’ll have to
act accordingly, and I think the NBA made the right decision.”

Will the NBA Return This Season?

The season is not canceled. There are plans to resume at some point, though it’s unclear when that will take place.

Prior to Gobert testing positive for the Coronavirus, there were talks that if an NBA player tested positive for the virus that the infected player, his team and any teams he or they interacted with would have to be quarantined for two weeks.

The NBA has told teams that they will be allowed to practice, though some teams have already told their staff and players to remain locked down.

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