NBA Recommends Players Self-Quarantine Through March 16
Now that the novel coronavirus COVID-19 has ground NBA play to an indefinite halt, the NBA has recommended that all players self-quarantine through at least next Monday, March 16, per Marc Stein of the New York Times (Twitter link).
The league wants players to remain in their home markets (and actual homes) as long as they are able, and refrain from holding group workouts, meetings, or practices until then.
Team physicians and trainers have been advised to consult with their players regarding their health at least once per day, Stein adds in a supplemental tweet.
The fact that the NBA wants players to remain in their teams’ cities and in close contact with team medical staffs could indicate that the league is optimistic for the resumption of regular season play at some juncture, as Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer posits (Twitter link).
Bulls Stop All Team Activities
The Bulls have announced that the team will be suspend all team activities for the next few days, but will keep its players in the Chicagoland area, per a team press release (Twitter link).
The NBA has suspended its 2019/20 season indefinitely due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. That may come as some relief to the Bulls, who sport just a 22-43 record. They are presently the No. 11 seed in the Eastern Conference, eight games behind the 30-35 Magic. Chicago’s best player, shooting guard Zach LaVine, has been hampered by a sore left quad throughout March.
According to the team press release, the Bulls had to be returned home from Orlando last night – where they had been scheduled to play their next game – after the season was postponed. No Bulls are exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, according to the team.
Though teams have been cleared to practice with their players during the indefinite season suspension, Chicago medical personnel recommended this more drastic course of action to prioritize social distancing and curtail risk. Team owners apparently want commissioner Adam Silver to reappraise the situation in 30 days.
NCAA Cancels 2020 Basketball Tournaments
The NCAA has officially canceled the Division I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments, NCAA president Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors said today in a statement.
A Wednesday announcement had suggested the NCAA planned to move forward with the tournaments without fans in attendance. However, in the 24 hours since Wednesday’s press release was issued, the NBA, NHL, MLB, and MLS have all postponed their seasons, and virtually every Division I conference canceled their own tournaments, prompting the NCAA to reconsider its stance.
“This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities,” the NCAA said in its statement.
All remaining winter and spring NCAA championships will be canceled as well, according to the press release. The wording in the statement – including “cancel” rather than “postpone” – indicates that the NCAA won’t be leaving the door open to March Madness being pushed back and becoming April Madness or May Madness.
The decision also means that NCAA prospects who intend to become part of the 2020 draft class have played their last college games. It remains unclear how many opportunities NBA teams will get to scout those players this spring, with events like the Nike Hoop Summit, the Portsmouth Invitational, and the Draft Combine all up in the air as well.
Rudy Gobert Apologizes To “People I May Have Endangered”
Rudy Gobert, who became the first NBA player to test positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday, has published an Instagram post confirming the diagnosis.
Within the post, Gobert apologized for his carelessness in potentially endangering those around him. The All-Star Jazz center mockingly touched all the microphones and recorders in front of him following a Monday media session. According to a report from ESPN, Jazz players were also privately saying that Gobert exhibited “a cavalier attitude toward the virus in the locker room, touching teammates and their belongings.”
“I have gone through so many emotions since learning of my diagnosis,” Gobert wrote. “Mostly fear, anxiety, and embarrassment. The first and most important thing is I would like to publicly apologize to the people that I may have endangered. At the time, I had no idea I was even infected. I was careless and make no excuse.
“I hope my story serves as a warning and causes everyone to take this seriously,” he continued. “I will do whatever I can to support using my experience as way to educate others and prevent the spread of this virus.”
Sources told Shams Charania and Tony Jones of The Athletic that Gobert has been around people who recently traveled to the U.S. from France, but there’s “no clear determination” on how or when he contracted COVID-19. His teammate Donovan Mitchell also tested positive for the virus, as we detailed earlier today.
ACC, Big Ten, Big East Among Conferences To Cancel Tournaments
A slew of college basketball tournaments that were scheduled to take place this weekend have been postponed or canceled. The ACC, Big Ten, and SEC, and Big 12 were among the major conferences to shut down their respective tournaments before games began. The Big East announced at halftime of this afternoon’s Creighton/St. John’s contest that its tournament would also be canceled.
Here are the other conference tournaments which were nixed today, accompanied by links to the official announcements:
The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is essentially the only Division I conference that has yet to formally announce the cancellation of its tournament, and it may just be a matter of time before that announcement comes.
It was less than 24 hours ago that the NCAA announced it would hold its 2020 March Madness tournament without fans in attendance. Now it seems increasingly unlikely that the event will take place at all.
Schools with major basketball programs, such as Duke and Kansas, have announced increased coronavirus measures restricting athletic events, while the ACC announced that it has suspended “all athletic-related activities,” including “participation in NCAA championships.” The Big Ten is likely headed in that direction too, according to Jeff Goodman of Stadium (Twitter link).
The potential cancellation of the remaining college basketball schedule will affect NBA teams’ preparations for the 2020 draft, as John Hollinger and Sam Vecenie of The Athletic write. However, this month’s tournament is just one of many pre-draft scouting opportunities that could be impacted.
As The Athletic’s duo explains, there’s still no word on whether events like the Nike Hoop Summit (early April), the Portsmouth Invitational (mid-April), and the combine (mid-to-late May) will go forward as planned. Of course, given the possibility that the NBA’s season will resume and run later than usual, we don’t even know for sure that the draft will happen in late June.
The Jordan Brand Classic, a high school All-Star game that features many of the nation’s most highly-recruited seniors, has been canceled, according to an announcement today.
Coronavirus Notes: Mitchell, Thunder, More
After reporting on Wednesday that the Knicks were the only NBA team that wanted to maintain the status quo until forced by a government mandate to play games without fans, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski updated that report today.
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), two other teams expressed reservations about playing games behind closed doors before receiving a formal mandate to do so. Those teams were the Rockets and Pacers. Woj adds (via Twitter) that while the Rockets were resistant to the idea of playing games in the short-term without fans, they were in favor of a three-or-four-week hiatus that would have pushed the schedule into the summer.
That discussion is moot now, in the wake of Jazz stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell testing positive for coronavirus and the NBA shutting down its regular season indefinitely. Mitchell confirmed his positive test today in an Instagram post.
“We are all learning more about the seriousness of this situation and hopefully people can continue to educate themselves and realize that they need to behave responsibly both for their own health and for the well being of those around them,” he wrote in his statement. “… I am going to keep following the advice of our medical staff and hope that we can all come together and be there for each other and our neighbors who need our help.”
Here’s more on the coronavirus situation:
- The NBA has a call with its Board of Governors scheduled for 2:30pm central time this afternoon, according to Wojnarowski (via Twitter). The call was initially supposed to happen earlier in the day.
- There’s some concern among NBA players about coronavirus test results being leaked to the media, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic (Twitter link), given the damage it can do to a player and his family and the stigma it creates. As Amick notes, the fact that it’s a public health crisis complicates the situation. When the Jazz and the NBA announced Gobert’s and Mitchell’s positive tests, they didn’t identify them — the two affected stars were revealed by media reports.
- Although they weren’t initially tested for coronavirus at the Chesapeake Energy Arena following Wednesday night’s postponed game against Utah, Thunder players and staffers were advised to self-quarantine for 24 hours and will be tested, writes ESPN’s Royce Young. Since Gobert wasn’t at the arena at all on Wednesday, the risk wasn’t considered high for members of the Thunder, but now that Mitchell has tested positive as well, the Oklahoma State Health Department feels that testing is warranted.
Celtics, Pistons Among Teams Self-Isolating Due To Virus
The Celtics, who played the Jazz in Boston last Friday, announced in a press release today that they’re having players and staffers who were in close contact with Utah players or who traveled to Milwaukee this week self-quarantine at least through the weekend.
All of the Celtics’ players – as well as staff members who came into close contact with Jazz players or exhibit COVID-19 symptoms – will be tested over the weekend, the team said in its release. After consulting with health experts, the Celtics believe it’s unlikely that any of their players came into contact with Rudy Gobert or Donovan Mitchell while they were contagious, but they want to take precautions nonetheless.
Meanwhile, the Pistons – who played Utah on Saturday in Detroit – announced today that there’s no indication the coronavirus was passed along to any of their players or staffers. However, they’re asking their players, coaches, basketball staff, and traveling party to self-isolate “until further notice” out of an abundance of caution.
A league source tells Rod Beard of The Detroit News (Twitter link) that coronavirus tests are available for Pistons players, but if they’re not exhibiting any symptoms, those tests are optional.
The Cavaliers, whose game with Utah took place back on March 2, believe based on conversations with the Jazz and health experts that Gobert and Mitchell did not have coronavirus when the Jazz visited Cleveland last week, league sources tell Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. No players or staff members have shown symptoms, so there are no plans for testing at this time, Fedor adds. If symptoms surface, that would change.
In an official statement, the Cavs confirmed that none of their players have experienced symptoms and indicated that the club isn’t currently under a mandatory quarantine.
The Knicks, whose game against Utah happened on March 4, are under the impression they’ll be self-quarantined, per Ian Begley and Alex Smith of SNY.tv. Marc Berman of The New York Post tweets that the Knicks remain at their hotel in Atlanta as of 1:00pm CT, with no concrete departure time set yet.
Earlier today, we passed along word that the Raptors, who played the Jazz on Monday, are being tested for coronavirus and have been advised to self-isolate for two weeks, while the Wizards – Utah’s opponent on February 28 – are also self-isolating for the next few days, just to be safe.
Mark Cuban Hopeful Season Will Eventually Resume
Appearing this morning on ESPN’s Get Up (video link), Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said that the NBA remains hopeful that the 2019/20 season can resume at some point, rather than being cancelled altogether.
“Hopefully, this virus runs its course over the next 60 days or so, and at that point we can start making decisions about does the NBA play games, what our schedule looks like, how we would progress from there,” Cuban said, noting that the situation is fluid.
Asked by ESPN’s Rachel Nichols whether his speculative 60-day timeline meant that the league would be prepared to have the playoffs end in August rather than June, Cuban replied, “Absolutely.” However, he cautioned that the NBA may not pick up right where it left off by playing its full schedule.
“I can easily see us playing the last seven-to-10 games of the regular season to get everybody back on course and then going right into the playoffs and going into July, if not August,” he said.
One team executive who spoke to Howard Beck of Bleacher Report put the odds of the season resuming at 90%, but didn’t have an estimate for when that might happen. Another team official speculated to Beck that the league could resume play in mid-April and go “straight to the playoffs.”
While the speculation from Cuban and other team officials may reflect discussions and brainstorming sessions the NBA has had with its owners and executives, it’s far too early to draw any concrete conclusions about the plan going forward. The league will have to be patient and see how the coronavirus situation plays out around the country in the coming days and weeks.
Donovan Mitchell Tests Positive For Coronavirus
A second Jazz All-Star has been diagnosed with COVID-19, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that guard Donovan Mitchell tested positive for the coronavirus.
Jazz players and team personnel were quarantined in their locker room on Wednesday night following Rudy Gobert‘s positive coronavirus test and the postponement of their game with the Thunder. Coronavirus tests were conducted on the club’s staff and players, including Mitchell, at that time before they were permitted to leave the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
According to Wojnarowski, Jazz players have privately said that Gobert had been “careless in the locker room” this week, “touching other players and their belongings.” We don’t know that Gobert contracted the virus before Mitchell, but it’s still not a good look for the Jazz center, who also made light of the coronavirus crisis on Monday by going out of his way to touch every microphone and recorder in front of home following a session with the media.
Fortunately though, the coronavirus wasn’t spread widely across the Jazz locker room. Mitchell was the only one of 58 Jazz players and personnel who were tested on Wednesday night to be diagnosed with the virus, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter). The remaining tests came back negative. The Jazz confirmed as much this morning in a press release.
While the Jazz are the first team known to have affected players, they may not be the only club impacted by the outbreak, since they’ve played several other clubs within the last two weeks. Reports on Wednesday night indicated that players from teams that have played the Jazz in the last 10 days were advised to self-quarantine. That list of clubs includes the Cavaliers, Knicks, Celtics, Pistons, and Raptors.
The Raptors, who played the Jazz most recently (Monday), had members of their traveling party, including players, tested for COVID-19 on Wednesday night and announced today that they’re awaiting results. All of Toronto’s players, coaches, and traveling staff have been instructed to go into self-isolation for 14 days, according to the team.
The Wizards, who faced Utah on February 29 and the Knicks on March 10, have advised players and staff members to self-quarantine for the next three or four days out of “an abundance of caution,” the team announced today.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
How Coronavirus Is Impacting International Leagues
After an eventful Wednesday that saw the NBA suspend its 2019/20 season indefinitely, many international basketball leagues are following suit on Thursday.
The EuroLeague, widely considered to be the world’s most competitive league outside of the NBA, announced that it has suspended all its games until further notice. EuroCup contests have also been suspended indefinitely, according to the announcement.
Per Emiliano Carchia of Sportando (via Twitter), leagues around Europe are taking similar measures. The ABA Liga, which features teams from Serbia, Slovenia, and Croatia, among other countries suspended play today. So did the professional leagues in Poland, Greece, and the Ukraine.
Other leagues may join that list in the coming hours or days, while some had already suspended play before Thursday. Spain’s Liga ACB announced earlier in the week that games for the next two weeks would be postponed. That break may now be extended further, with Real Madrid announcing today that a player on its roster has tested positive for COVID-19.
Meanwhile, FIBA has announced that all its competitions will be suspended indefinitely, beginning on Friday. It remains to be seen how long that hiatus will last, but if it extends well into the spring, it could have a major impact on this year’s Olympic qualifying tournaments, which are scheduled to take place in late June.
As leagues in North America and Europe shut down, the Chinese Basketball Association is preparing to resume play in April. According to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony, the CBA – which put its schedule on hold earlier this year – has told American players to return to China this week, though it’s not clear how many players will comply, since several have safety concerns.
According to Givony, some agents representing players who are under contract in China have said that CBA teams are telling them their clients are at risk of being banned from the league for life if they don’t return. Agents may also be at risk of losing their licenses there for two or three seasons.
Givony notes that there have been positive signs in China in recent weeks regarding containment of the virus, prompting the CBA to try to figure out how to finish its 2019/20 season. American players have been informed that they’ll need to spend 14 days in quarantine upon returning to China, sources tell ESPN.