Burke tests positive for coronavirus
ESPN NBA broadcaster Doris Burke, a Curt Gowdy Award recipient by the Basketball Hall of Fame for excellence in her field, has revealed that she tested positive for the coronavirus.
Burke made the announcement Friday on an ESPN podcast hosted by NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski.
Burke says she started feeling extreme fatigue on March 11, the day the NBA was shut down once it was learned that Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive. Burke was assigned the Nuggets-Mavericks game on that date for ESPN and fought through her symptoms to work that night.
She said she had a three-day period of such deep fatigue that she couldn’t remain out of bed for more than five minutes at a time. She was eventually tested and received the results on Wednesday — eight days after being swabbed.
By then, she was feeling better and said on the podcast that she was appreciative of the health-care workers who saw her. “I’m so incredibly thankful to be feeling well,” Burke said.
Celtics coach Brad Stevens says guard Marcus Smart is doing well and remains in good spirits following his positive test for coronavirus last week. Smart announced his diagnosis on March 19, seven days after Jazz’s Gobert and Donovan Mitchell tested positive for COVID-19. The Celtics played the Jazz on March 6. ... Lakers superstar Anthony Davis is getting involved with a pair of community initiatives to help Los Angeles-area hospital employees and Staples Center workers. Davis says he is teaming up with Lineage Logistics to match up to $250,000 in donations to an organization providing free meals to health care workers during the coronavirus pandemic. ... Top NBA executives are having their base salaries reduced by 20% for the foreseeable future. The reductions affect the roughly 100 highest-earning executives, as the NBA joins the NHL and NASCAR in cutting salaries while competitions are on hold because of the coronavirus. The reductions were first reported by ESPN.
College basketball: Kentucky reserve G Johnny Juzang will enter the NCAA transfer portal after one season with the Wildcats. The 6-foot-6 freshman from Los Angeles can transfer to another school without restrictions per NCAA rules. ... Les Hunter, a star on Loyola Chicago’s barrier-breaking 1963 NCAA championship team, died. He was 77. The university announced Hunter’s death, saying he battled cancer. Hunter helped Loyola — with four black starters — break down racial barriers and capture what remains the only NCAA Division I championship for an Illinois school by beating Cincinnati.
NFL: The Cowboys and K Greg Zuerlein agreed on a three-year, $7.5 million contract, with $2.3 million guaranteed. The deal with Zuerlein comes just a few days after the Cowboys re-signed Kai Forbath, who made all 10 kicks last season after replacing the shaky Brett Maher. ... The Raiders formally announced the additions of free agent LB Nick Kwiatkoski, S Jeff Heath and DE Carl Nassib. All three players agreed to deals last week but they weren’t announced until they all passed physicals.
Tennis: Top-ranked Novak Djokovic, his wife and their foundation are donating 1 million euros (about $1.1 million) to help buy ventilators and other medical equipment for hospitals in Serbia. Djokovic says his foundation’s staff “will be monitoring everything” to get the equipment in place.