Two Lakers Players Test Positive For Coronavirus

8:14pm: JaVale McGee has tested negative, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets. The veteran center has asthma and battled pneumonia last season.

6:58pm: The Lakers plan to test a small group of coaches and staffers who had close contact with the players, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. Both of the players with positive tests are currently asymptomatic, in quarantine and under the care of a team physician, according to the team’s Twitter feed (Twitter link).

6:25pm: A pair of Lakers players have tested positive for the coronavirus, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

The number could grow as the team could test other players who were not tested on Wednesday morning, Charania adds.

The amount of players and personnel testing positive for COVID-19 throughout the league continues to rise at an alarming rate.

The news regarding the Lakers players broke just minutes after the Sixers revealed that three members of their organization – not necessarily players – tested positive.

With the addition of the Lakers duo, nine NBA players are known to have tested positive for COVID-19 so far: Jazz stars Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert, Pistons big man Christian Wood, former MVP Kevin Durant, and three other unidentified Nets players and the Lakers pair. Adding the trio from the Sixers and a member of the Nuggets’ organization who has also tested positive, the total number of NBA players and personnel with the coronavirus has jumped to 13.

[UPDATE: Marcus Smart tests positive for coronavirus]

In their last four games before the stoppage of play, the Lakers played Philadelphia, Milwaukee, the Clippers and Brooklyn.

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