In the days before he tested positive for coronavirus and became the impetus for the NBA suspending its season, Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert joked about concerns about the virus.
On Monday, the NBA’s Patient Zero made it a point to touch all the tape recorders and microphones after speaking with reporters on his way to the team’s shootaround.
So…here is Rudy touching all the mics following Mondays shoot around that has some people concerned… #TakeNote #utahjazz #CoronaVirus pic.twitter.com/dr4auECTr4
— Dave Fox (@Davefox2) March 12, 2020
On Wednesday, the NBA’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year was listed as “questionable” with an illness on the Jazz injury report. Prior to tip-off against the Thunder, his positive coronavirus test result was reported and Utah’s game with Oklahoma City was postponed.
That move led to the NBA suspending its season for the foreseeable future.
The suspension of play was too late for Utah’s Donovan Mitchell to avoid getting his own case of coronavirus, likely from his teammate
Jazz star Donovan Mitchell has tested positive for the coronavirus, league sources tell ESPN. Jazz players privately say that Rudy Gobert had been careless in the locker room touching other players and their belongings. Now a Jazz teammate has tested positive.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 12, 2020
On the bright side, Mitchell was the only Jazz player or member of team personnel to test positive for coronavirus out of 58 tests administered on Wednesday night, according to a report.
Teams that have played the Jazz and Gobert in the last ten days include the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks, and Toronto Raptors.
Those clubs have been told to have their players self-quarantine.
Langston Galloway plays for Detroit.
“I’m sure I probably had contact with him,” he said of Gobert. “Staying focused on that moment of interaction with a lot of different people and knowing that at the end of the day you might have touched the ball, you might have interacted with a fan and just being (cautious) with that going forward.”
Many of the Jazz reporters who were at that interview session with Gobert on Monday said they were getting tested for COVID-19.
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