NBA officials have announced that the remainder of the regular season has been suspended indefinitely due to the coronavirus.
The decision comes after Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, the NBA announced in an official statement. The Athletic’s Shams Charania first reported the story.
Here is the NBA’s official statement:
“The NBA announced that a player on the Utah Jazz has preliminarily tested positive for COVID-19. The test result was reported shortly prior to the tip-off of tonight’s game between the Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder at Chesapeake Energy Arena. At that time, tonight’s game was canceled. The affected player was not in the arena.
“The NBA is suspending game play following the conclusion of tonight’s schedule of games until further notice. The NBA will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic.”
Both teams are currently being quarantined at the arena, according to The Athletics Tony Jones.
Despite testing positive for the coronavirus, reports state that Gobert feels “good, strong, and stable” and would have been capable of playing in the game tonight versus the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“This is crazy, this can’t be true,” said Mark Cuban to ESPN, the outspoken owner of the Dallas Mavericks and Shark Tank star. “It’s really not about basketball and money…you think about your family. You want to make sure you’re doing this the right way,” said Cuban. “This is much bigger than just the NBA.”
This news comes just a few hours after the NCAA announced that the annual March Madness tournament would be held without fans in attendance. Further, the ACC, SEC, and other major conferences have followed suit, announcing that the conference tournaments would be played without fans.
This story is developing…
Source: IGN.com NBA Suspends Regular Season Coronavirus