Rudy Gobert Utah Jazz
Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert goes up for a shot against San Antonio Spurs guard Danny Green during the first quarter at Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City on April 12, 2017. Reuters/Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports

KEY POINTS

  • Rudy Gobert has tested positive with the coronavirus
  • This caused the NBA to shut down and suspend the season
  • Players, fans and the rest of the basketball community react to the news

The coronavirus has reached the NBA as reigning defensive player of the year Rudy Gobert has been tested positive for NCOV-19.

Gobert was seen joking about the coronavirus a few days ago during a press conference. After his time with the reporters, the seven-foot-one big man stood up and started kidding around in front of the media. He touched the microphones and recorders before heading out of the pressroom.

In the Utah Jazz’s recent matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Chesapeake Arena, a decision was reached to postpone the game. Gobert was in Oklahoma City but was not in the arena.

“Due to unforeseen circumstances the game, tonight has been postponed. You are all safe,” said the PA announcement.

The league was inclined to make changes to how they played the games due to the recent outbreak. While they were close in reaching a consensus of playing without fans in attendance, recent news has given them the decision to suspend the season.

This caused major reactions from everyone as the year was already approaching the final few months of the regular season.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was in disbelief as he found out in-game about the news.

Fans took the lighter side of things, referencing Gobert’s defensive ability to shut down the entire league.

Monty Williams of the Phoenix Suns reacted by saying that there’s an absurd high cost for the testing kits – adding that those should instead be free.

Fellow French National team player and Orlando Magic guard Evan Fournier took to Twitter to share an update on Gobert.

Seasoned analyst and author Bil Simmons calls this the craziest day in NBA history.

Teams now will have to be quarantined especially those who had matchups against the Utah Jazz in the past few games. This may cause a rapid spread of the virus considering that the Jazz has played four different teams since Wednesday.

As pointed out by bballbreakdown, those teams who have made contact with the Jazz have also gone out in contact with other groups of people.

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