Bulls under quarantine after 4 Nets test positive
Members of the Bulls’ traveling party are under a two-week quarantine through Sunday after four players from the Nets, including star Kevin Durant, tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Bulls, who played the Nets on March 8 in New York, contacted the NBA and health officials after the news broke, and while no one in the traveling party has displayed any symptoms, the entire group will self-quarantine through the recommended two weeks.
Teams such as the Raptors and Pistons immediately had to self-quarantine beginning last week after the Jazz’s Rudy Gobert was the first NBA player to test positive, quickly followed by teammate Donovan Mitchell.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio took aim at the Nets’ ability to get testing that has been unavailable to so many others.
“We wish them a speedy recovery. But, with all due respect, an entire NBA team should NOT get tested for COVID-19 while there are critically ill patients waiting to be tested,” de Blasio wrote in a tweet. “Tests should not be for the wealthy, but for the sick.”
Also, all Thunder players and staffers tested negative for the virus after being exposed to it before their game against the Jazz on March 11.
♦ NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the league is considering an idea where some players would be quarantined or isolated for purposes of being able to compete against one another and provide basketball fans with some sort of diversion from the pandemic.
Silver offered no predictions on when NBA games would resume.