The first documented case of COVID-19 among NBA players came when Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive on Wednesday evening. The result came moments before the team’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, which was hastily postponed and led to all of the Jazz’s players and personnel members getting tested. Donovan Mitchell was the only other person in the organization to test positive.
The top priority for now is to make sure that Gobert and Mitchell both get healthy and don’t spread coronavirus to others. Both have addressed how they’re doing on Instagram, with Gobert apologizing for being “careless,” a word that was also used in a report by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN — he used it to reference Gobert in the team’s locker room, while Gobert also came under fire for touching the recorders used by media members earlier in the week. While that’s being thrown around, though, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported that Gobert won’t be fined or suspended for anything.
The NBA will not be fine or suspend Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert for his actions leading up to testing positive for the coronavirus, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) March 13, 2020
Still, some of Gobert’s teammates apparently aren’t happy with him right now. Wojnarowski appeared on SportsCenter and expressed that Utah’s locker room is filled with people who are frustrated with Gobert.
Apparently, there's 'a lot of frustration' with Rudy Gobert in the Jazz locker room.
"There is a lot of work to do to repair relationships…." pic.twitter.com/SmIarBGX6r
— Rob Lopez (@r0bato) March 13, 2020
“The Jazz are fortunate that they don’t have to get back together and start playing games right now,” Wojnarowski said. “There is a lot of work to do to repair relationships, not just between Donovan Mitchell [and] Rudy Gobert, but others in the locker room. There’s a lot of frustration with Gobert, he was certainly apologetic today.”
Tensions are ostensibly quite high in Utah right now, but everyone will have plenty of time to cool down. According to NBA commissioner Adam Silver, the league will be on pause for at least 30 days, although he admitted it may end up being much longer than that before teams take the floor once again.
