The NBA announced it is suspending its season indefinitely following Wednesday night's games after a Utah Jazz player tested positive for the coronavirus:
Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus, which has been labeled a pandemic by the World Health Organization.
The Jazz's game versus the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday was deferred after the scheduled tipoff and fans were told to go home. The NBA said the player who tested positive was not in the arena.
All remaining games Wednesday are anticipated to continue as scheduled.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe reported earlier Wednesday that the NBA was considering playing games without fans in arenas to suppress the spreading of the coronavirus. The league had also been considering putting games on a break but reportedly was leaning toward continuing to play.
Twenty-four states have declared a state of emergency due to the virus, which has more than 115,000 cases worldwide. Over 1,000 of those cases are in the United States, and the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic.
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday night that he was excluding all travel from European countries into the U.S. beginning Friday, with the exception of the United Kingdom.
Los Angeles Lakers star Lebron James said last week that if he showed up to an arena and there weren’t any fans, that he wouldn’t be playing. Little did he know he might not have the choice. James went back on those comments earlier Wednesday after he learned that it was a real possibility in talks with the NBA.
"Obviously, I would be very disappointed not having the fans, because that is what I play for -- I play for my family, I play for my fans," James said. He added: "If they feel like it's best for the safety of the players, the safety of the franchise, the safety of the league to mandate that, then we all listen to it."
