The NBA announced it is suspending the season for an undetermined amount of time after Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for Covid-19 prior to a game between the Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night. That game was postponed just before tip-off and both teams have been quarantined in the arena.
The NBA suspends season over coronavirus pandemic
The league “will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward.”
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Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
Here’s the official statement from the NBA:
The NBA announced that a player on the Utah Jazz has preliminarily tested positive for Covid-19. The test result was reported shortly prior to the tip-off of tonight’s game between the Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder at Chesapeake Energy Arena. At that time, tonight’s game was canceled. The affected player was not in the arena.
The NBA is suspending game play following the conclusion of tonight’s schedule of games until further notice. The NBA will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic.
There were four games being played when the NBA made its announcement. Those games were completed. A game between the New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings scheduled for later in the night was postponed.
Per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, any team that faced the Jazz in the last 10 days must now self-quarantine.
Players from teams the Jazz have played within the past 10 days were told to self-quarantine, sources told ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. Those teams are the Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors.
More from Woj:
Here’s Mark Cuban’s live response to the news that the season was suspended:
Cuban also gave this in-game interview after learning the news:
We’ll update this post as it develops.
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