NBA Announces 16 Of 302 Players Test Positive For COVID-19
Of the 302 NBA players tested for the coronavirus on June 23, a total of 16 have come back positive, the NBA and NBPA announced today. That’s a positive test rate of 5.3%.
While those players likely won’t all be publicly identified, we know a few of them already. Malcolm Brogdon, Jabari Parker, Buddy Hield, Alex Len, and Derrick Jones are among the players whose positive tests were reported earlier this week.
Any player diagnosed with the coronavirus will be self-quarantined until he “satisfies public health protocols” for discontinuing isolation and has been cleared by a doctor, the league said in today’s announcement. The expectation is that once a player is fully cleared and has tested negative for the virus twice, at least 24 apart, he’ll still be able to travel to Orlando next month to participate in the NBA’s restart.
The 22 teams set to play at the Disney campus are carrying more than 302 players in total, so not every single player on those rosters was checked for COVID-19 on Tuesday, when testing began. The reasons for that discrepancy are unclear, but I’d expect the remaining players to began undergoing testing shortly, if they haven’t already.
Seeking Writers For Pro Hockey Rumors
As our sister site Pro Hockey Rumors celebrates its four-year anniversary, we’re looking to add to the writing staff! In particular, we’re seeking someone with strong daytime availability Monday through Friday. The position pays hourly. The criteria:
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- Keen understanding of journalistic principles, ethics and procedures. Completion of basic college-level journalism classes is strongly preferred.
- Attention to detail — absolutely no spelling errors, especially for player and journalist names.
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Durant Not Sure He’d Play This Summer Even If Healthy
Kevin Durant won’t be making his Nets debut this summer. He and the team have decided to continue planning for Durant to return from his Achilles injury to start the 2020/21 season, with the star forward confirming earlier this month that his season is over.
As such, there’s no need for Durant – or teammate Kyrie Irving, who is also sidelined with an injury – to make a decision on whether or not to participate in the NBA’s restart plan. However, during an appearance on the Dawg Talk podcast this week, Durant admitted he’s not sure he’d want to play even if he were healthy.
“I feel, me right now, I probably wouldn’t have played because the unknown going into that situation looks crazy right now, seeing so many new (COVID-19) cases,” Durant said, per Alex Smith of SNY.tv. “It’s just so unpredictable. It’s easy for me to say right now because I’m injured but I probably wouldn’t have went down there.”
Of the four players who have voluntarily opted out so far, three – Davis Bertans, Trevor Ariza, and Willie Cauley-Stein – are on teams that are either outside of the playoff picture or hold a lower seed. That’s the case for the Nets as well — they have a half-game lead on Orlando for the No. 7 spot in the East. No Brooklyn players have opted out yet, but Durant said he’d support his teammates no matter what they decide.
“If the guys feel safe enough to go play, that’s cool. I’m with them,” said Durant. “If they don’t feel like they should go down there and play or don’t feel safe, I’m with them too. I’m all about what the group wants. If it’s good for the betterment of the whole group then I’m cool with it.
“I probably would have chilled. Obviously, I would have talked to my teammates and consulted with my guys and actually really went over it for the last month and a half, but me, my gut would have told me, ‘Nah, I wouldn’t want to go down there, especially after three months off.'”
Any player who voluntarily opts out of participating this summer will forfeit between approximately 9-15% of his salary for the 2019/20 season. His team will also be eligible to sign a substitute player to replace him, even without an open roster spot.
However, players who are sidelined with injuries can’t be replaced by a substitute player, which will limit the Nets’ roster flexibility — in addition to Durant and Irving, Nicolas Claxton will also be on the shelf with an injury this summer, leaving the team with just 12 healthy players on its 15-man roster. Two-way players Chris Chiozza and Jeremiah Martin should be available to help provide depth.
Southwest Notes: Zion, Grizzlies, Cauley-Stein, Holiday
Pelicans rookie forward Zion Williamson has been frequenting the team’s New Orleans facility – the Ochsner Sports Performance Center – during the NBA hiatus, per ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Andrew Lopez. The Pelicans organization is hopeful that the prized 2019 No. 1 draft pick, now fully rehabilitated from an injury that cost him much of the season, will be able to help catapult the squad to a playoff berth.
The Pelicans, currently occupying the No. 10 Western Conference playoff seed with a 28-36 record, are 3.5 games behind the 32-33 Grizzlies, the present No. 8 seed.
“Those reps against the best players on a bigger stage will be meaningful for Zion certainly as a 19-year-old,” Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations David Griffin said noted. “I think it’s important for those guys to play some meaningful-slash-playoff basketball.”
There’s more from the Southwest Division:
- Due to soft attendance numbers during the 2019/20 season, the Grizzlies may be able to exercise an “early termination” option in the team’s lease on its publicly-funded home arena, the FedEx Forum, according to Geoff Calkins of the Daily Memphian. Team owner Robert Pera and local municipalities are anticipated to begin appraising various possible courses of action.
- Since Willie Cauley-Stein opted out of the NBA season restart in Orlando, the Mavericks‘ depth at center has taken a hit, per Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News. With the athletic center out of commission, Maxi Kleber will soak up most of the minutes as the prime backup for Kristaps Porzingis. 7’4″ Boban Marjonovic may seem some additional run. The team agreed to a deal with Trey Burke, a point guard, in Cauley-Stein’s stead.
- Stalwart Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday, a two-time NBA All-Defensive First-Teamer with the club, signed a controversially large five-year, $126MM contract with New Orleans as an unrestricted free agent in 2017. William Guillory of The Athletic looks back on the negotiations between the two sides on that mammoth deal.
Travel, Dress Code Details For Orlando Restart
The dates of travel to the Disney World campus in Orlando for the NBA restart are out, per Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (Twitter link). All 22 NBA squads will travel between July 7-9. The NBA season has been paused since Jazz center Rudy Gobert was diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 11.
On July 7, the Jazz, Magic, Nets, Nuggets, Suns, and Wizards will arrive at the NBA’s Disney campus. On July 8, the Celtics, Clippers, Grizzlies, Heat, Kings, Mavericks, Pelicans and Thunder will touch down. Finally, the Bucks, Lakers, Pacers, Raptors, Rockets, Sixers, Spurs, and Trail Blazers will get to Orlando on July 9.
In a separate tweet (link), Charania reports that the NBA’s bench dress code for team personnel and inactive players has been adjusted for the restart. Instead of being mandated to wear sport coats or suits, players will be allowed to wear polo shirts (either short- or long-sleeve) for “team business,” and coaches are now permitted to don short- or long-sleeve NBA polos as well.
Former NBA commissioner David Stern instituted the previously extant dress code in the 2005/06 season.
Knicks Claim Jared Harper, Waive Kadeem Allen
4:56pm: The Knicks have issued a press release confirming that they’ve claimed Harper and waived Allen.
4:24pm: The Knicks have claimed two-way player Jared Harper off waivers, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that the team waived guard Kadeem Allen to open up a spot. Harper and Kenny Wooten now occupy New York’s two-way contract slots.
Harper, 22, signed a two-way contract with Phoenix last July after going undrafted out of Auburn. The 5’11” guard logged just eight total minutes in three NBA games for the Suns, but had a strong season for the Northern Arizona Suns, Phoenix’s G League affiliate. In 34 NBAGL games (28.9 MPG), Harper averaged 20.2 PPG, 5.5 APG, 2.6 RPG, and 1.1 SPG with a shooting line of .413/.362/.787.
The Suns opted to release Harper in March just as the NBA puts its transaction moratorium in place, so the move didn’t technically become official until Tuesday of this week. Harper would have cleared waivers and become a free agent today if not for the Knicks’ claim.
Now, it will be Allen who is on track to become a free agent if he clears waivers this weekend. The 6’1″ guard spent the last two seasons under contract with New York, appearing in 29 games for the NBA squad and 63 more for the Westchester Knicks in the G League. Allen struggled to score efficiency this season, averaging 13.7 PPG on .394/.261/.828 shooting in 24 NBAGL games (28.8 MPG).
Harper’s two-way contract is believed to be for only one season, which means the Knicks would have to re-sign him this fall in order to keep him under control beyond 2019/20. Claiming him off waivers gives the club greater control of that process, since he can be made a restricted free agent.
Central Notes: Pacers, George, Giannis, Bulls
In an appearance this week on the Knuckleheads podcast with Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles, former Pacers star Paul George revisited his 2017 departure from Indiana, explaining why he felt the need to move on from the organization. According to George, “the best power forward” in the NBA had said at the time that he wanted to team up with PG13 in Indiana, but the Pacers weren’t willing to do what was necessary to make it happen.
“They’re like, ‘We’re a mid-major, we’re a small market, like, we can’t do it, we’re a small market, we can’t afford that,'” George said (per 8points9seconds.com). “I’m like, ‘The best power forward wants to come play here, like, y’all can’t make that work?’ They didn’t want to do it.”
According to J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star (Twitter links), the star power forward George is referring to is Anthony Davis. Michael also suggests that George may be overstating the Pacers’ ability to have landed AD, noting that Indiana lacked the pieces to make it happen and had no deal in place with New Orleans. It’s worth pointing out as well that the Pelicans didn’t become truly motivated to move Davis until he after he requested a trade in 2019.
Here’s more from around the Central Division:
- Following Malcolm Brogdon‘s positive coronavirus test, coaches who have come in contact with the Pacers guard are being quarantined, a source tells J. Michael of The Indianapolis Star. Michael adds in the same story that Indiana probably won’t make any roster moves in the next week as long as none of the team’s players opt out of the summer restart.
- Giannis Antetokounmpo was dealing with a minor knee injury when the NBA went on hiatus in March, but he’ll be ready to go when the season resumes next month, Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer tells Jackie MacMullan of ESPN. “It’s a huge advantage for us that Giannis will be completely and totally healthy,” Budenholzer said. “He’s in a great place, both mentally and physically.”
- In his latest mailbag, K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune says that new Bulls executives Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley are more likely to make modest tweaks to the roster for 2020/21 than to do anything drastic this offsesaon that breaks up the young core. The team’s two new decision-makers hope to put those young players in better position to succeed going forward, Johnson adds.
And-Ones: Klutch, T. Young, Blazers, Jazz
Veteran NBA agent Omar Wilkes has left Octagon Sports and will become the head of basketball at Klutch Sports, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports that the move will create a path for Rich Paul to “expand his scope” as the company’s CEO. Although Paul will continue to work with Klutch’s basketball clients, the hiring of Wilkes will allow him to commit more time to the agency’s newer MLB and NFL divisions, Woj adds.
Wilkes’ most noteworthy client at Octagon, rising Hawks star Trae Young, has cut ties with the agency and appears likely to follow Wilkes to Klutch, writes Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. Chris Kirschner of The Athletic cautions that CAA and Roc Nation have reached out as well, but says Young figures to end up with Klutch, since he and Wilkes are “incredibly close” (Twitter links).
Cam Reddish, OG Anunoby, and draft prospect Anthony Edwards were among Wilkes’ other clients at Octagon. It’s unclear whether they’ll remain at Octagon or stick with Wilkes as he makes the move to Klutch.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- A pair of sports representation agencies – Tandem and You First – have merged, as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski relays (via Twitter). Tandem president Jim Tanner will be the president of basketball for the merged firm, which will rebrand with a new name, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. Between them, Tandem and You First represent a number of notable NBA players, including Ja Morant, Kristaps Porzingis, and Serge Ibaka.
- The coronavirus pandemic is having an impact on the Trail Blazers‘ operations, according to Joe Freeman of The Oregonian, who reports that the team laid off about 40 employees – 15% of its workforce – and reduced salaries for anyone in a director role. The cuts affected multiple departments and also impacted the team’s arena management company, Rip City Management, per Freeman.
- In an interesting piece for The Athletic, Seth Partnow makes a case against the 82-game season, suggesting that the NBA has an opportunity to experiment in 2020/21, with the season tentatively scheduled to start at least a month or two later than usual.
- The Salt Lake City Stars took home a pair of NBA G League end-of-season awards, with Martin Schiller earning Coach of the Year honors and VP of basketball operations Bart Taylor named Basketball Executive of the Year. The Jazz‘ NBAGL affiliate finished the 2019/20 season with a 30-12 record, giving the Stars a comfortable hold on the No. 1 seed in the West.
Bucks Two-Way Player Frank Mason Named NBAGL MVP
Frank Mason III, who has spent the 2019/20 season on a two-way contract with the Bucks, has been named the NBA G League’s Most Valuable Player, the league announced today in a press release.
The 34th overall pick in the 2017 draft, Mason spent his first two professional seasons with the Kings before being waived by Sacramento last July. In his first year under contract with Milwaukee, he appeared in just six games for the Bucks, spending most of the season with the Wisconsin Herd.
In 23 games for Milwaukee’s G League affiliate this season, Mason averaged a league-leading 26.4 PPG to go along with 5.0 APG and 3.4 RPG in 31.5 minutes per contest. He also posted an impressive .504/.425/.815 shooting line, and helped lead the Herd to a league-best 33-10 record. The team was 18-5 in games Mason played.
Mason’s two-way contract is reportedly set to expire at season’s end, so the Bucks will have to sign him to a new deal if they hope to keep him beyond 2019/20.
Mason beat out Herd teammate Jaylen Adams and Celtics two-way player Tremont Waters in NBAGL MVP voting — Adams and Waters finished second and third, respectively.
Derrick Jones Jr. Tests Positive For Coronavirus
Heat wing Derrick Jones Jr. has tested positive for COVID-19, becoming Miami’s first player known to have contracted the virus, according to a report from Barry Jackson and Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald.
Jones has been asymptomatic and expects to join the Heat for the resumption of the 2019/20 season at Walt Disney World this summer once he has been medically cleared to do so, per Jackson and Chiang. He’ll have to self-quarantine for the time being and will need to return two negative coronavirus tests, at least 24 hours apart, before being cleared to travel to Orlando next month.
Jones, a minimum-salary player during the first four years of his NBA career, will be a free agent this fall and appears to be in line for a substantial raise. However, he previously stated that his contract situation wouldn’t dissuade him from playing in Orlando, and it sounds as if his positive coronavirus test won’t either, assuming his condition doesn’t worsen.
This year’s Slam Dunk Contest winner, Jones has averaged a career-high 24.5 minutes per contest in 51 games for the Heat, averaging 8.9 PPG, 4.2 RPG, and 1.1 SPG with a .514 FG% in his regular rotation role.
Reports of NBA players testing positive for COVID-19 have been popping up with increasing frequency this week because teams began mandatory testing on Tuesday in advance of next month’s restart. Nikola Jokic, Malcolm Brogdon, and three Kings players (Jabari Parker, Buddy Hield, and Alex Len) are among the others who have tested positive.