Former Warriors Star Blasts ESPN Analyst For Wanting NBA To Continue Amid Coronavirus Crisis

A former Golden State Warriors star player told ESPN analyst and former NBA player Jay Williams to “shut the f up” following his appeal to continue NBA games amid coronavirus crisis.

The NBA is one of the major leagues that got hit hard by the 2019 novel coronavirus or the COVID-19 pandemic. Last March 24, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver initially stated that the suspension would last at least 30 days, but a mid-to-late-June return is now being viewed as a possibility.

Following the global crisis, several NBA pundits have expressed their thoughts about the matter. On Friday, ESPN NBA analyst and former Bulls star Williams called for the NBA season to continue even if there are no live fans in the arenas.

As an analyst, Williams surely has a reason for the said commentary. However, Williams’ appeal didn’t sound good for former Warriors star and current TNT analyst Baron Davis. In fact, it led him to take his thoughts to Twitter and blasted Williams for his comments.

According to Davis, Williams should “shut the f up” and go play by himself instead as people are already dying and the idea of continuing the season doesn’t make any sense at this point in time.

“Somebody stick a plunger in his (Williams) mouth. STFU bro. People getting really sick and people are dying. He should wake up and go play by himself,” Davis wrote.

According to a report from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the NBA front office executives reportedly want the league to provide tentative contingencies on a return to play this season. However, league officials have been reserved to share those estimates with teams at the moment. The league is reportedly is looking at Labor Day weekend in early September as one of the initial target dates on completing the NBA Finals should the season managed to continue by July 1.

Meanwhile, the first two NBA players to test positive for the coronavirus have already been cleared.

Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert and All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell both confirmed they were positive for the coronavirus on March 11 via posts on social media. But on Friday, the team said in a statement that Gobert and Mitchell, as well as the rest of the Jazz's roster and personnel, were cleared by the Utah Department of Health.

"The UDOH has determined that all Jazz players and staff, including two who tested positive for the novel coronavirus, no longer pose a risk of infection to others," Aaron Falk wrote on UtahJazz.com.