COVID-19 Notes: Nurkic, Testing, Roster Moves, Bamba

Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic turned in one of the best games of his career Saturday, shortly after learning that his grandmother had died of COVID-19, writes Jason Owens of Yahoo Sports. Nurkic helped Portland claim the eighth seed in the West with 22 points, 21 rebounds, and six assists in a win over Memphis, but admitted he was almost too devastated to take the court.

“I didn’t want to play. She made me play,” Nurkic said afterward. “… I’m glad we won and are in the playoffs. That’s what we came for.”

Nurkic briefly considered leaving the Disney World campus after his grandmother was diagnosed in late July. He has been one of the keys to the resurgent Blazers after being sidelined for more than a year with a compound fracture in his left leg.

There’s more coronavirus-related news:

  • The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted emergency approval to a saliva-based test for COVID-19 that was funded by the NBA and its players union, according to Zach Lowe of ESPN. Developed at Yale University, the test, called SalivaDirect, is intended for public screening. It was given to some NBA players and staff members in Orlando, and the results nearly matched the nasal swab test that is now is widespread use. “(The Yale test) loses a little bit of sensitivity, but what we gain is speed and that it should be up to 10 times cheaper,” said Nathan Grubaugh, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Yale.
  • With the seeding games over, the NBA’s rules for roster moves have changed, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. The 16 teams remaining in Orlando can only replace players who test positive for the virus, and the new player can’t have more than three years of NBA experience. Prior to Saturday, teams were still permitted to replace players who decided to opt out.
  • Mohamed Bamba and the Magic hope further medical testing will determine why he had so much physical difficulty after contracting the coronavirus, writes Iliana Limon Romero of The Orlando Sentinel. Bamba felt strong when he arrived at Disney World, but he was never able to fully get back into game shape. He left the campus Friday and is done for the season. “Mo went home and he’s going to have tests so that we can find out what the issues are for sure,” coach Steve Clifford explained. “He had been working hard and he just didn’t feel good. So he wasn’t seeing progress in his conditioning level, so this is the smart thing to do and to find out for sure to find out why he was having the problems he was having.”
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