NBA star still suffering effects of virus months after falling ill

It’s been more than three months since Utah Jazz star Rudy Gobert contracted the novel coronavirus, but he still hasn’t completely regained his sense of smell.

“The taste has returned but the smell is still not 100 per cent,” the two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year told the French newspaper L’equipe. “I can smell the smells but not from afar. I spoke to specialists who told me it could take up to a year.”

Gobert told the paper he still feels “strange things” but doesn’t know whether that’s attributable to lingering effects from the virus or the time that has elapsed since he last played a game.

“I’m starting to train thoroughly,” Gobert said. “I still haven’t played five-on-five but I train individually. I do boxing, swimming, I run in the mountains. Today I wouldn’t say that I feel more tired than before. But I had experiences a month-and-a-half ago, which scared me. I felt like ants in my toes and wondered what it could be. There were quite a few little things like that.”

Gobert reported losing his sense of smell days after testing positive for the coronavirus on March 11. His positive test led to the postponement of the Jazz’s game that night against the Thunder in Oklahoma City. The NBA suspended its season hours later.

The 28-year-old received backlash over mockingly touching reporters’ microphones two days before his positive test. Days later, he pledged $500,000 to employee-related relief efforts connected to the coronavirus pandemic.

Gobert averaged 15.1 points and a career-high 13.7 rebounds before the NBA suspended its season. The league is set to resume play on July 30 at Disney World’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, Fla.

On Friday, the NBA finalized a 22-team schedule, which has the Jazz facing the Pelicans in the first game.

With a rise in coronavirus cases across the country since numerous states relaxed their physical distancing restrictions, several players have opted out of joining their teams in Florida.

Of more than 300 players returning to their home markets this past week, a total of 16 tested positive for the virus and will self-quarantine.

Others have debated whether resuming play will dilute the power of the message in the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement.