Charles Barkley Under Self-Quarantine For 48 Hours Due To Suspected Coronavirus Disease

Charles Barkley announced Thursday that he is under self-quarantine due to a suspected Coronavirus disease. The Basketball Hall of Famer said that he is still waiting for the official test results but was advised by doctors to isolate himself for 48 hours as he was “not feeling well.”

The 57-year-old bared his condition via phone call during the special episode of TNT’s Inside the NBA where he sits as an analyst.

“I spent the earlier part of the week in New York City. When I got to Atlanta yesterday, I wasn’t feeling well,” Barkley said. “I talked to a couple of people at Turner and a couple doctors and they told me to self-quarantine for the next 48 hours. I started yesterday, this is my second day.

“I haven’t been feeling great and they didn’t want me to take any chances. I went and took the coronavirus test late this afternoon, I have not gotten the results back. So I’m just kinda in limbo right now. I’m really hoping it was just a bug.”

Shortly after Barkley’s call, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver officially announced that the NBA will be suspended for “at least 30 days,” a day after he served an emergency order to put the league to an indefinite hiatus due to Utah Jazz’s Rudy Gobert testing positive for COVID-19.

“In the two full board meetings I had yesterday, and today, not one team raised money. The entire discussion was about the safety and health of the players, the community around the NBA, and our fans. What we determined today is that this hiatus will be most likely be at least 30 days. And we don’t know enough to be more specific than that,” Silver said.

The league’s head executive added that a re-assessment will be conducted after the said timetable in which he will discuss, along with team owners, the possible options down the line that may include the resumption of the season.

"Even if we're out for a month, if we're out for six weeks, we can still restart the season," Silver added. "It might mean the Finals take place in July or late July. Just my feeling was it was way premature to suggest we had lost the season,” Silver said. He, however, is not dismissing the possibility of canceling the season entirely.

"Of course it's (canceling the season) possible. I just don't know more at this point," he said.