Western Notes: Mitchell, Kerr, Anthony, Suns
Donovan Mitchell is “extremely frustrated” with Jazz teammate Rudy Gobert after testing positive for the coronavirus, league sources told Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix. Gobert has apologized for his careless actions earlier in the week, prior to being the first NBA player to test positive. The team has a solid young core but how Mitchell responds when play resumes could make or break their relationship, Mannix continues. The Jazz were rising up the Western Conference standings but if this leads to locker room issues, it could have a major impact on the franchise’s playoff expectations, Mannix adds.
We have more from the Western Conference:
- Warriors coach Steve Kerr is upset at himself for not taking the coronavirus more seriously earlier this week and believes social distancing is now paramount, Anthony Slater of The Athletic reports. “I was coaching in a basketball game with 15,000 fans like four nights ago. So I feel like a fool,” Kerr said. “But this goes back to our human condition of denial and vulnerability. But we’ve crossed that threshold now and it’s important that everybody understands what they can do.”
- Trail Blazers forward Carmelo Anthony said on teammate CJ McCollum‘s podcast that he was “embarrassed” that he was a free agent for so long until Portland signed him, according to Casey Holdahl of the team’s website. “I started questioning myself why. Why? What happened? What did I do? Did I do something wrong? Was it me? Am I good? Can I still play? It was like all of these thoughts started to come in and that stuck with me for about four, five months.”
- The Suns could have all their injured players back in action if and when the season resumes, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic relays. That group includes forward Kelly Oubre Jr., who underwent knee surgery earlier this month, and Frank Kaminsky III, who missed the last 32 games due to a knee injury. “You try to make a positive out of a negative,” GM James Jones said. “It could end up being a really good thing for us and if that’s the case, I know our guys will be excited. I know our coaches, myself, I’ll be excited to have our team full strength or close to it, contending and playing in some meaningful games.”
NCAA Considered 16-Team Tournament
The NCAA considered a plan to hold a 16-team NCAA Tournament next week, according to Ralph D. Russo of The Associated Press.
As concerns grew in recent days over the coronavirus pandemic, NCAA executives considered several alternatives to the 68-team Division I tournament. They realized a three-week tournament would not be feasible but hoped to play a condensed tournament from Thursday-Monday in Atlanta, the site of this year’s Final Four.
A selection committee would have chosen the top 16 teams in the country, regardless of conference. The idea of holding a 16-team event got “mixed interest” from committee, according to NCAA vice president of men’s basketball Dan Gavitt.
The other issue was, naturally, concerns about the spreading virus. Once Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive, which led to the NBA’s decision to suspend play, some college players were leery of taking the court.
“There was a real concern about not being inclusive enough, with only 16 teams,” Gavitt said. “But the other thing that was in play at that point in committee members’ minds, and we saw this play out at conference tournaments, once an NBA player was infected, I think it started to really hit home for the players, from what I’ve heard from coaches by text message and anecdotally.”
The NCAA opted to cancel its basketball tournaments and all other remaining championship events on Thursday.
Antetokounmpo, Griffin, Williamson To Help Arena Workers
Bucks forward and reigning Most Valuable Player Giannis Antetokounmpo and his family are donating $100K to Fiserv Forum staff members to help them weather the financial storm during the league’s suspension of play, according to his Twitter account.
Antetokounmpo is following the lead of the Cavaliers’ Kevin Love, who pledged a similar amount to arena employees in Cleveland. The Pistons’ Blake Griffin is making the same donation to workers at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena, according to the Detroit News’ Rod Beard.
Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson is pledging to cover the salaries for all of their arena staff workers for the next 30 days, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
Numerous teams have come forward to say that they’ll keep their employees on the payroll during the stoppage as well as compensate full-time and part-time staff who work their games. However, many other workers in these arenas, such as security guards and concession workers, are often employed by other companies. The players donations would presumably provide assistance to those workers.
The Pistons added their name to the list of teams that will compensate workers on Thursday, according to the Detroit Free Press. The Wizards did the same, Candace Bucker of the Washington Post tweets. The Kings have also stepped forward, according to James Ham of NBC Sports, The Trail Blazers are formulating a plan to pay their part-time arena employees for the team’s nine remaining home games and will reassess the program in 30 days, Jason Quick of The Athletic tweets.
Rockets CEO Tad Brown vowed to make sure their employees would “take care of our part-time employees as well as all of our employees,” Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle relays.
The Mavericks, Hawks, Cavaliers, and Nets have already stated their intentions to provide financial support to employees and arena workers.
International Updates: EuroLeague, LKL, VTB, NBL
The NBA isn’t the only major professional basketball league preparing for at least a 30-day hiatus. Euroleague Basketball president Jordi Bertomeu published a letter to fans today announcing that EuroLeague play will be halted until at least April 11, 2020. According to Bertomeu, there’s still optimism that the season will resume eventually, as is the case with the NBA.
With a small handful of exceptions, nearly all the basketball leagues across Europe have now been suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak. Here are a few more updates on the international front:
- Lithuania’s basketball league – the LKL – has officially ended its season, per Donatas Urbonas (Twitter link). Zalgiris, which was in first place by five games with a 22-2 record, has been declared this year’s champion.
- The VTB United League in Russia announced today that it has suspended its season (Twitter link).
- The National Basketball League in Australia announced in a press release that the remaining games in its Grand Final Series – the league’s equivalent of the NBA Finals – between the Sydney Kings and Perth Wildcats will be closed to the general public.
- FIBA Europe officially suspended several events, including EuroLeague Women, EuroCup Women, and the FIBA Europe Cup.
- In non-coronavirus news, German team Bayern Munich parted ways with former Thunder first-rounder Josh Huestis earlier this week, as Ennio Terrasi Borghesan of Sportando relays.
Jazz Notes: Gobert, Coronavirus, Self-Quarantine
The NBA won’t be fining or suspending Jazz center Rudy Gobert for his actions leading up to his positive test for the coronavirus, reports Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (via Twitter).
Gobert, who tested positive on Wednesday, made light of the coronavirus situation on Monday, when he made a point to touch all of the microphones and recorders in front of him following his shootaround availability.
According to a report from ESPN, Gobert also exhibited “a cavalier attitude toward the virus in the locker room, touching teammates and their belongings.” ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski added in a TV appearance that there’s “a lot of frustration” with Gobert in the Jazz locker room (hat tip to NBC Sports).
The All-Star center published an Instagram post on Thursday expressing embarrassment and apologizing for taking any actions that may have endangered those around him.
Here’s more on the Jazz:
- Although Gobert has faced plenty of criticism this week, Bruce Arthur of The Toronto Star argues that the Jazz center can be viewed as an “accidental hero,” since his actions and his positive diagnosis provided the NBA and North America at large with a prominent case study for why the virus should be taken seriously.
- A pair of Jazz beat writers – Eric Walden of The Salt Lake Tribune and Tony Jones of The Athletic – shared their accounts of what became a wild night in Oklahoma City on Wednesday. Both reporters became part of the story due to their proximity to affected players Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, as they were among those tested for COVID-19 late on Wednesday in OKC. They both tested negative.
- As we relayed on Thursday, 58 members of Utah’s traveling party were tested for coronavirus on Wednesday, including Walden and Jones. Of those 58, only Mitchell tested positive (Gobert’s test was conducted earlier). Still, the players who tested negative have been instructed to self-quarantine for 14 days, as the team announced in a press release.
Coronavirus Notes: Next Steps, Barkley, Testing
In addition to recommending that its players self-quarantine through at least March 16, the NBA has told its clubs that each team is “encouraged” to conduct an educational session by Monday for its players and staff to discuss the coronavirus situation, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
While those meetings could happen in person, it seems more likely they’ll take place remotely, given the NBA’s call to self-isolate. According to Charania, several teams already conducted meetings along those lines before the season was suspended on Wednesday.
Here are more updates on the ongoing coronavirus situation:
- While the NBA may have its own plans in mind for how and when to resume the season, those plans will be impacted by edicts from local governments. For instance, Adam Hoge of NBC Sports Chicago tweets that the owners of all of Chicago’s major sports teams – including the Bulls – told Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker they won’t host any home games with fans in attendance through at least May 1. New York mayor Bill de Blasio, meanwhile, suggested on Thursday that venues like Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden could be closed for “months,” as Malika Andrew of ESPN tweets.
- NBA analyst Charles Barkley said on TNT on Thursday night that he hasn’t been feeling well and has self-quarantined, tweets Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. Barkley was tested for COVID-19 and is awaiting those results, Feigen adds.
- Teams around the NBA want to be able to test their players for the coronavirus, but a limited supply of testing equipment nationwide restricts their ability to do so unless players or staffers are showing symptoms or have definitely come in contact with someone who was affected, writes Sam Amick of The Athletic.
- The McDonald’s All American Games – a showcase for high school players – announced on Thursday evening (via Twitter) that its 2020 events have been canceled.
Adam Silver Issues Letter To NBA Fans
NBA commissioner Adam Silver issued a letter to NBA fans on Thursday night, addressing the league’s decision to suspend the 2019/20 season due to the coronavirus and confirming that the NBA intends to resume the season when it becomes viable to do so.
“As you know, we have temporarily suspended our season in response to the coronavirus pandemic,” Silver said in the letter. “We made this decision to safeguard the health and well-being of fans, players, everyone connected to our game and the general public. This hiatus will last at least 30 days and we intend to resume the season, if and when it becomes safe for all concerned.
“In the meantime, we will continue to coordinate with infectious disease and public health experts along with government officials to determine safe protocols for resuming our games. As we develop the appropriate course for future NBA games and events, we will keep you informed of any changes as soon as they happen. Tickets already purchased for a postponed game will be honored when the game is rescheduled. If games are not played or played in an empty arena, teams will work with fans on a credit for a future game or a refund.”
Silver went on to recommend visiting the league’s official website for the latest news and cautioned that it will remain a “complicated and rapidly evolving situation.”
Silver’s letter confirms that the NBA expects its hiatus to last at least 30 days, as he announced on TNT earlier in the evening. His suggestion that the league expects to eventually resume the ’19/20 season aligns with comments made by Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and other executives earlier today. However, it remains to be seen when that might happen and how exactly the league will adjust its schedule to accommodate the layoff.
Coronavirus Continues To Impact International Play
As the novel coronavirus COVID-19 hits the US, its impact also continues to be felt abroad. The coronavirus first gestated in China, and thus the CBA was the first big league hit with COVID-19. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst took a look at the experiences of select CBA players, including former Magic forward Andrew Nicholson, now with the Loong Lions.
“It’s been frustrating,” Nicholson said, “but no one could have expected this, no one can control it.”
Since our last check-in, several other international leagues have suspended play. Beyond just the EuroLeague, the three other big European basketball competitions (the EuroCup, FIBA Champions League and FIBA Europe Cup) have indefinitely postponed game operations, per Jonathan Givony of ESPN.
Forward Trey Thompkins, a member of one of the top EuroLeague clubs, Real Madrid, recently tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Real Madrid quarantined its basketball and football teams. Thompkins tweeted about his diagnosis. “I’m feeling great and just waiting for the virus to pass at this point,” he said in part.
Givony also notes that the competitions or entire leagues in Italy, France, Ukraine, Germany, Poland, and Greece will be postponed. The Adriatic League — boasting teams from Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Macedonia — has also paused operations indefinitely, per Givony.
The suspension of play approach is not universal, Givony indicates. Contests in Israel and Turkey will continue as scheduled, but Turkish games will be fan-free and Israeli games will be limited to just housing 100 people in their arenas.
Among the European teams Givony tallies, only the VTB League — which comprises squads from Poland, Estonia, Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus — will continue with normal attendance along with its normal schedule.
The Belgian EuroMillions Basketball League has suspended all games until April, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. Carchia also notes that league competitions in the Netherlands, Romania and Slovakia have been suspended today (Twitter link).
NBA Prepares For Layoff Of At Least 30 Days
7:32pm: Silver confirmed that the duration of the league’s postponement “will be most likely at least 30 days,” according to an interview during Inside The NBA on TNT. When asked if it was possible that the NBA regular season would not resume at all, Silver noted, “Of course it’s possible. I just don’t know more at this point.”
4:00pm: Although the NBA has yet make a formal announcement on an initial timetable for its hiatus, team owners are encouraging commissioner Adam Silver to re-evaluate the situation after 30 days, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), who says the league is expected to provide an official update soon.
Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) also hears that the NBA will shut down for 30 days before the suspension is re-assessed. Bruce Arthur of The Toronto Star (Twitter links) was the first to report that preliminary 30-day timeline, stressing that it’s a “minimum” and that the timetable may end up being largely out of the NBA’s control.
A layoff of at least 30 days doesn’t come as a surprise. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban speculated earlier today that it may take at least 60 days for the virus to run its course and for the NBA to consider resuming the 2019/20 season. The Chinese Basketball Association, which suspended its season in late January, is aiming for an early-April return, which would mean a hiatus of over two months.
In the short term, a handful of NBA teams – particularly those who have been in recent contact with affected Jazz players Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell – are self-isolating in order to minimize risk.
In addition to the teams we discussed in that earlier story, the Nuggets and Sixers are among the clubs whose players are being advised to temporarily self-quarantine, per Mike Singer of The Denver Post and Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link), respectively. The 76ers are organizing testing for players and some staffers, while the Nuggets have tests available if needed, according to those reports.
Goodwill reports (via Twitter) that some team owners on today’s conference call suggested that every NBA player should be tested for COVID-19 during the suspension. Given how challenging it has been for the average American with symptoms to get tested for the virus, it’s unclear how realistic it is to expect tests right now for hundreds of NBA players without symptoms.
NBA 2K League To Postpone Season
In response to the rapidly escalation of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the NBA’s esports affiliate, the NBA 2K League, will postpone the anticipated March 24 start of its season, according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe (Twitter link).
The 2K League and the NBA are coordinating to potentially have the esports games be played remotely, Lowe notes. Last year, all regular-season games were played in Long Island City, New York, at the the NBA 2K League Studio. They were broadcast via a Twitch live stream.
The NBA 2K League had its inaugural season in 2018. Currently, 21 of the 30 NBA teams have 2K clubs. The reigning championship squad is the Timberwolves’ affiliate 2K team, T-Wolves Gaming.