Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert became the first player in the NBA to test positive for the coronavirus. Within hours, the NBA made a decision to suspend its season for a minimum of 30 days. Before Gobert tested positive, there were reports of him acting careless in the locker room. In a recent interview, Jazz guard Emmanuel Mudiay spoke out about the situation.
“Rudy is a great guy,” insists his teammate, “He was just trying to be funny and joke around” . Mudiay also added that, “He didn't know he had it at the time. Now he knows that it was something serious.”
After the NBA suspended its season, Gobert made a kind gesture by donating more than $500,000 to support the employee relief fund at Vivint Smart Home Arena. According to the Jazz, there are 800 part-time employees working events at Vivint Smart Home Arena in various areas.
In the same interview, Mudiay expressed that the coronavirus is bigger than basketball and his team is taking precautions.
“People want to play, but we know that it's bigger than basketball at this point.” He continues, “My team, everybody actually, is just taking precaution and doing everything that they need to do. “Things are happening so fast and no one's prepared for it,” Mudiay said. “I think everybody's just making decisions on the fly. But it's so hard to be in anybody's position at this point because you just don't know how to handle it because we don't have too much information.”
As of right now, it still remains uncertain when the NBA season will return. However, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention recommends that all gatherings of 50 people or should be canceled for the next eight weeks.
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