Posted in: NBA, Sports, TV | Tagged: coronavirus, Rudy Gobert

NBA Suspends Season After Utah Jazz's Rudy Gobert Tests Positive for Coronavirus

Published Wed, 11 Mar 2020 20:39:30 -0500

Last updated Wed, 11 Mar 2020 21:24:08 -0500

The NBA has just announced that the league will suspend its schedule of games effective with the end of tonight's schedule until further notice, following reports that Utah Jazz Center Rudy Gobert has preliminarily tested positive for coronavirus. The NBA's press release on the matter states that the league will "use this hiatus to determine steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic."

According to ESPN, tonights Thunder/Jazz game was about to tip off when an Oklahoma City medical staffer ran onto the floor to confer with referees. The game was set to take place in the Oklahoma City Thunder's Chesapeake Energy Arena. ESPN's Royce Young further reports that both team's players are being kept in their locker rooms at the arena at this time.

With each of the NBA's 30 teams scheduled to play 82 games during the course of a season, there are a total of 1230 games in the NBA regular season — which started on October 22, 2019 and before tonight's suspension was set to conclude on April 15, 2020. By my quick calculation, there would have been roughly 265 games left in the regular season after tonight's play.

Rudy Gobert, one of the NBA's best defensive players, was a first round pick in 2013 for the Denver Nuggets. Gobert was traded to the Utah Jazz on draft night and has spent his entire NBA career with the Utah Jazz.