San Antonio Spurs shooting guard Marco Belinelli says what Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert did before his positive coronavirus test was “terrible.”
Gobert jokingly touched a bunch of reporters' mics after a press conference. A few days later, Gobert had a fever of over 100 and wound up testing positive for COVID-19.
Via Jeff Garcia of Spurs Zone:
In an interview with Italy's Corriere della Sera (via Sportando), San Antonio Spurs' Marco Belinelli expressed his thoughts on Rudy Gobert's behavior saying what he did was “terrible.”
“Terrible. I prefer not to express myself because I don't want to say things that then seem offensive or too serious, but what he did was yes, terrible,” Belinelli said.
Last month, Belinelli offered financial assistance to hospitals in his native Bologna, Italy to aid in the battle against the global coronavirus crisis.
The Spurs guard isn’t able to go home because of the pandemic. Belinelli is the son of an Italian surgeon. The NBA suspended the 2019-20 season after Gobert tested positive. His teammate Donovan Mitchell tested positive as well.
Before the season got suspended, the Spurs were in 12th place in the Western Conference standings with a record of 27-36. San Antonio was actually in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 1997.
Belinelli, who was part of the 2014 Spurs team which won the championship over LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and the Miami Heat, appeared in 52 games for San Antonio before the season was suspended. He was averaging 5.8 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 15.0 minutes per contest while shooting 39.1 percent from the field, 36.8 percent from beyond the arc and 78.0 percent from the free-throw line.