Donovan Mitchell becomes the second NBA player to test positive for coronavirus after his Utah Jazz teammate Rudy Gobert was the first.
The Utah Jazz underwent coronavirus testing after All-Star center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, his teammate and fellow All-Star, Donovan Mitchell, has also tested positive according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Wojnarowski also notes that teammates say Gobert was careless in the locker room in recent days. Publicly, Gobert mocked the concern for the virus by touching all of the microphones on the table during media availability.
Here’s Rudy Gobert touching a bunch of reporters’ audio equipment 2 days ago. Today, he tested positive for coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/Z3Lw1yfCfW
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) March 12, 2020
Gobert’s positive test was the impetus for the NBA’s decision to put the season on hiatus. Mitchell’s positive test confirms that Gobert is not the only player infected.
If these two tested positive, it’s probably a safe bet that there are more NBA players infected who just haven’t been tested yet.
“Players from teams the Jazz have played within the past 10 days were told to self-quarantine, sources told ESPN’s Brian Windhorst. Those teams are the Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors,” per ESPN.
Pressing pause on this season is an absolutely unprecedented move, but it’s smart for the NBA to put the safety of players, media, and fans above all else. The league was prepared to move ahead with the season without allowing fans into arenas, but the Gobert news forced the NBA’s hand.
When will we see another NBA game? That’s a tough question that really doesn’t have an answer yet. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tends to think that the season could end up stretching into August.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban just told us on @GetUpESPN that his expectation is that the NBA season will not be canceled – just postponed – and that he could could see NBA games going as late as August this year.
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) March 12, 2020