Utah is only NBA team not to lose a player to virus

The Utah Jazz lead the NBA in a handful of categories. Most 3-pointers, just like they did last season. Most points per game. Most rebounds per game.

They’re also last in use of the word “protocols.”

It’s not accurate — yet — to say every team in the NBA has had a coronavirus problem this season, writes Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. No Jazz player has been on the league’s health and safety protocols list this season, making Utah the only team yet to lose a player to a virus-related issue.

That’s particularly impressive considering what’s happening. Right now, 27 of the league’s 30 teams are waiting for at least one player to come off the list, with some of those teams waiting for way more than one player to be cleared.

“I don’t feel any particular pride,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder (pictured) said when asked about being the last team standing in the protocols race. “I think we’ve been fortunate. We’ve tried to be smart about a lot of things. A lot of teams have done that, just in terms of raising a level of awareness. I think we’ve been fortunate. I also think it’s kind of a knock-on-wood situation on some level.

He doesn’t really think the run of luck will last. Snyder knows it’s an “inevitability” that the Jazz will join the rest of the NBA. The numbers around the league indicate that day is coming sooner than later.

December 2021 was a difficult month for the NBA, by any measure, probably its most difficult since March 2020. That was when the decision to shut down the league happened on the night that Jazz center Rudy Gobert became the first player to test positive for COVID-19.

More than 500 players took the floor this month, a record for any month in league history.