Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle has reportedly returned a positive test result for COVID-19. He is awaiting a second round of tests, but as it is, he has been asked to quarantine in his hotel room and will now miss the Mavericks' Friday night tilt against the New York Knicks.
Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News first broke the news:
Carlisle says that this morning "I had an unexpected positive test. There's a chance and a hope that it will be a false-positive." Carlisle says he has been fully vaccinated since January. He is still in the Mavs hotel in NY. If new test results come back negative he could coach.
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) April 2, 2021
Marc Stein of the New York Times confirmed the report and also stated that it will be assistant coach Jamahl Mosley who will be taking over for Carlisle:
Jamahl Mosley is coaching the Mavericks tonight at Madison Square Garden in place of Rick Carlisle
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) April 2, 2021
As indicated in the report above, Carlisle has already been vaccinated since January, which is why the Mavericks are hoping that this was a false positive. Then again, folks getting the virus after being vaccinated has been alarmingly commonplace and coach Carlisle could end up as being one of them.
The hope is that it's a false positive, but in the case that he has actually contracted the virus, then the hope is that he is able to get through it without any complications.
While there have been no further reports on this front, it would not be surprising if some of the Mavericks players are forced to undergo a mandatory quarantine period should Carlisle's test results confirm the worst. There is no telling how long he will be out of service, the hope is that it's a false positive and he can return to coaching soon. Most, if not all of the Mavericks players (and team staff) would have likely been in close contact with Carlisle, so this could easily blow up for Dallas.