NBA to suspend regular season for now
The NBA announced that the season has been suspended until further notice following the conclusion of Wednesday’s games after a player on the Utah Jazz tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
USA TODAY confirmed the player is Jazz center Rudy Gobert.
The Jazz and Thunder were set to tip off in Oklahoma City before the positive result was reported. The game was immediately cancelled.
“The NBA will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic,” the league said in its statement.
In a statement, the Jazz said that Gobert tested negative for influenza, strep throat and an upper respiratory infection Wednesday morning. His symptoms “diminished over the course of today, however, in a precautionary measure, and in consultation and cooperation with NBA medical staff and Oklahoma health officials, the decision was made to test for COVID-19.”
Grizzlies respond to NBA decision
The Grizzlies are currently in Portland
and were set to play the Trail Blazers Thursday night to begin a threegame road trip, including facing the Jazz on Saturday in Salt Lake City. Their next home game was scheduled to be Tuesday
against the Thunder.
Late Wednesday night, they released the following statement.
“We fully respect and support the NBA’S decision to suspend all games in light of the impact of COVID-19. Measures taken to protect the health of our players, staff and fans are the correct ones. For all ticket buyers and fans, we are working through information as we receive it and will provide updates as soon as we have them available. We appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding as we work through this together.”
At 32-33, the Grizzlies are in the No. 8 seed for the Western Conference. At shootaround this week, players said they would follow whatever protocol the NBA mandated.
“My health is important and that’s number one,” rookie guard Ja Morant said. “However I’ve got to go about it to stay healthy and continue to be me, I’m happy to do it.”
According to ESPN, the NBA met with its Board of Governors Wednesday afternoon to discuss how to proceed with the season. This comes two days after the league delivered a joint statement with MLB, MLS and NHL to restrict locker room access to essential team personnel.
The league was expected to announce a decision by Thursday, but tonight’s news led to swifter action.
You can reach Evan Barnes on Twitter (@Evan_b) or by email at evan.barnes@commercialappeal.com