The NBA’s 2019-20 season has been suspended due to the Utah Jazz’s Rudy Gobert reportedly testing positive for novel coronavirus, and updates on how long the suspension could last were provided. Due to the Cleveland Cavaliers playing the Jazz this past Monday, which was within 10 days of being in contact with Gobert/the Jazz, the Cavs were one of five teams that were told to self-quarantine.
Given concerns related to novel coronavirus, the NBA was reportedly weighing options involving how to potentially move forward with their 2019-20 season on Wednesday, which included players games without fans present, and the other option was league going on hiatus, and the latter was then decided. Then the Utah Jazz’s Rudy Gobert reportedly tested positive for COVID-19, according to The Athletic‘s Shams Charania (also of Stadium), a player the Cleveland Cavaliers competed against last Monday.
From there, it was no surprise that the league reportedly suspended its season on Wednesday, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who then said that the NBA will use the hiatus to “determine next steps moving forward.”
Along with that, more news involving potential spread of the virus around the league came on Thursday.
According to Wojnarowski, Utah’s Donovan Mitchell tested positive for novel coronavirus, and Woj reported that Utah players privately have hit on how Rudy Gobert was “careless in the locker room touching others players and their belongings.”
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
Mitchell was the only member on the Jazz team/of their personnel that tested positive out of 58 tests administered on Wednesday night, though, per a report from Charania.
Sources: Donovan Mitchell was the only Jazz player/personnel to test positive for coronavirus out of 58 tests administered on Wednesday night. Remaining tests came back negative.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 12, 2020
In relation to the Cleveland Cavaliers, as was noted, they played against Gobert last Monday. As was recommended, given that was within 10 days of Gobert testing positive for COVID-19, the Cavs, New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors and Detroit Pistons were told to self-quarantine. That was per a report from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (and h/t ESPN News Services, with information from the Associated Press).
According to Windhorst and ESPN’s Tim Bontemps’ league sources on early Thursday, some on the teams told to self-quarantine, and some players and coaches, “were also scrambling to be tested as early as Wednesday night,” after it was reported that Gobert tested positive for COVID-19.
As far as testing for novel coronavirus, Windhorst and Bontemps then emphasized how the “league office advised teams to work with health providers to make testing available to its players and visiting teams.”
From the Cavaliers’ perspective, no Cavaliers have shown symptoms of COVID-19 and due to the limited availability of tests, the Cavs don’t intend to forego tester of players and staff unless symptoms are shown at some point, per the team and h/t Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.
In relation to the potential length of the suspension of the 2019-20 season, Windhorst and Bontemps said the following.
"“The regular-season stoppage will be at least two weeks so all players affected can go through quarantine, and, one hopes, be cleared of the virus. In reality, it probably will be longer. By comparison, when the virus broke out in China, the Chinese Basketball Association suspended play in late January. The CBA is in the process of resuming play in early April, roughly a 10-week layoff.”"
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban then said on ESPN’s “Get Up” on Thursday, per ESPN’s Rachel Nichols, that he could see games “going as late as August this year.”
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
Furthermore, Cuban said that, though it’s just speculation at this point, that the league would play “7-8” regular season contests to “get players in rhythm,” and then go into the postseason, as Nichols noted.
Cuban said in this kind of scenario, the league would play “7-8” regular season games to get players back in rhythm, then would go into the playoffs. (As of now, most teams have 18-20 left on their schedules.)
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) March 12, 2020
Obviously all speculative; Cuban said the NBA is figuring this all out https://t.co/qcTCb9ObIF
More from King James Gospel
- 3 possible starting lineups for Cleveland Cavaliers in 2023-24
- The Cavaliers may have snagged a hidden gem in Craig Porter Jr.
- 4 players the Cavaliers should pursue in 2024 free agency
- 6 players Cavaliers might replace Jarrett Allen with by the trade deadline
- This stat is one to keep an eye on for Cavaliers’ Max Strus in years ahead
This potential length of postponement would obviously have a profound impact on the upcoming 2020 NBA Draft, the 2020-21 season and the free agency period that was set to come this offseason for the Cleveland Cavaliers and other NBA teams.
Meanwhile, Cuban also touched on how the NBA has previously said teams can practice, per Windhorst and Bontemps, but as Windhorst and Bontemps also noted, that “might not be practical if there was widespread self-quarantine in the short term.”
In terms of payment of players, they will nearly certainly be, per Windhorst and Bontemps, and the general consensus remains that it’s in the best interest of the league and players to postpone, not cancel the remainder of the season, but ESPN’s Bobby Marks mentioned how per a provision in the NBA CBA, the league could allow players to not be paid for the rest of the games set to be played.
Marks also touched on the potential impact in relation to the salary cap down the road and after noting that it could be also affected by whether or not the season is shortened, h/t Windhorst and Bontemps.
"“Any reduction of basketball-related income (BRI) for the season would directly affect the salary cap and luxury tax for next season. A scenario in which the remainder of the regular-season schedule were played without fans could cost the league an estimated $500 million in BRI, even before the playoffs.Remember, we have already seen the cap drop from $116 million to $115 million in 2020-21 as a result of a projected reduction of $200 million or more in revenue from China.If the season resumes at some point with fans allowed to attend, the potential financial losses would be eliminated or mitigated significantly.”"
At this juncture, ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported that a conference call is set to take place at 12:30 ET Thursday between the league and its board of governors as far as “next steps” in how to further proceed. That was h/t ESPN News Services, and also in a report with contributions from ESPN’s Royce Young and the Associated Press.
That conference call is reportedly set for later Thursday afternoon now at 3:30 ET, per Wojnarowski, though, and a clearer picture of what’s to come will be known.
According to the World Health Organization (and h/t the aforementioned report in the previous paragraph), most recover from COVID-19. The World Health Organization (WHO) did label novel coronavirus as a pandemic on Wednesday, in which “people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover.”
Moreover, updates on what’s to come for the rest of the season for the Cleveland Cavaliers will likely come soon. The Cavs last played on Tuesday, and lost a close game to the Chicago Bulls 108-103 on the road.