- The National Basketball Association (NBA) announced that it will suspend the season after the Wednesday (March 11) night schedule until further notice as it deals with the coronavirus pandemic.
LOS ANGELES (REUTERS, AFP) – The National Basketball Association (NBA) announced that it will suspend the season after the Wednesday (March 11) night schedule until further notice as it deals with the coronavirus pandemic.
The announcement came shortly after a game between the Utah Jazz and hosts Oklahoma City Thunder was called off moments before tip-off.
“The NBA is suspending game play following the conclusion of tonight’s schedule of games until further notice,” the league said in a statement. “The NBA will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic.”
According to the NBA, a Jazz player preliminarily tested positive for coronavirus. The NBA stated the affected player was not in the arena at the time.
The decision was made after the confusing scenes in Oklahoma City, where Jazz and Thunder players took the court to warm up, but shortly before the scheduled tip-off were sent to their locker rooms before police began to clear the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
The NBA did not name the player who had tested positive, but several US media outlets reported it was French defensive standout Rudy Gobert, who was listed first as questionable for the game and then as out with illness.
Team-mate Emmanuel Mudiay was also listed as suffering from an undisclosed illness on the team’s injury report.
Six NBA games were scheduled for Wednesday and four were underway when the game in Oklahoma City was called off.
At the time of the announcement, the Dallas Mavericks’ home game against the Denver Nuggets was midway through the third quarter.
