Westbrook tests positive for COVID-19
The Rockets’ Russell Westbrook hasn’t made it to the NBA restart yet.
The coronavirus did — but health protocols seemed to work as the league and its players hoped they would.
On a day of troubling news for the league — Westbrook revealing that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and two other players facing 10-day quarantines for leaving the league campus perimeter at Walt Disney World — it was also announced that two players tested positive for the coronavirus after arriving in Central Florida last week.
Neither player made it out of quarantine beforehand, so neither entered the so-called bubble and could mingle freely with other players, coaches and staff.
It’s unclear when Westbrook will arrive. As recently as Sunday, the Rockets believed that Westbrook and James Harden — neither of whom traveled with the team to Walt Disney World near Orlando last week — would be with the team in the next few days.
In Westbrook’s case, that now seems most unlikely.
“I tested positive for covid-19 prior to my teams departure to Orlando,” Westbrook wrote on his social media channels. “I’m currently feeling well, quarantined, and looking forward to rejoining my teammates when I am cleared.”
The Rockets have clinched a playoff spot and resume their season with the first of eight seeding games on July 31 against the Mavericks.
The league said that 19 players tested positive since July 1 during in-market testing, meaning tests done before teams began arriving at Disney on July 7. Upon arrival at Disney, 322 players were tested with the two positives.
Baseball: Cardinals reliever Jordan Hicks opted out of playing this season, citing pre-existing health concerns. The 23-year-old Hicks was diagnosed in high school as having Type 1 diabetes. Hicks is recovering from Tommy John surgery. The right-hander’s availability for this season was uncertain.
Colleges: Shedeur Sanders, the son of Pro Footall Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, committed to Florida Atlantic. Shedeur Sanders, a QB, is ranked 41st overall in the Class of 2021, according to ESPN. ... Texas announced a series of steps intended to make itself more welcoming to its Black students but stopped short of shelving “The Eyes of Texas” song that a number of athletes have said needs to go because it has racist undertones. “The Eyes of Texas” has long been criticized for its connection to minstrel shows with characters in blackface in the early 1900s. It’s sung at most organized campus events, and players in all sports gather as a team to sing it after every game. The school did announce several changes, including renaming Joe Jamail Field for Black Heisman Trophy winners Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams. The school also will erect a statue for Julius Whittier, the Longhorns’ first Black football letterman, at Memorial Stadium. Texas will also strip the name of segregationist Robert L. Moore from a building and find ways to honor Heman Sweatt, whose 1950 court case cleared the way for Black students to attend the school.