The NBA has suspended its 2020 season, effective immediately. The NBA’s reason for the suspension is due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported this. Just minutes after the Utah Jazz‘s Rudy Gobert was tested positive for coronavirus, the NBA suspends its season.
NBA Season Suspended
The NBA has suspended its 2020 season, effective immediately. The suspension comes after Gobert was tested positive. This medical examination happened after the NBA was forced to postpone the Jazz vs. Oklahoma City Thunder game, because of Gobert. The NBA is planning on using hiatus to determine the next steps moving forward, per Wojnarowski. At this point in time, both Jazz and Thunder players are quarantined. Tough break for both teams as the suspension essentially happened because of Gobert’s contraction of the virus.
The NBA has suspended the season.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 12, 2020
Multiple other stories regarding the NBA and coronavirus have been circling around in the news. The Golden State Warriors announced that they would be playing their Thursday-night game at Chase Center against the Brooklyn Nets with no fans. Now that the NBA has suspended all play, that won’t be the case. There were several league meetings over the past few days, with talks of playing all games with no fans. That seemed to be the general conclusion that they were working towards. The NBA was considering suspension before the Gobert incident, but most teams wanted to keep the season moving. Now that Gobert wasn’t safe enough and contracted the coronavirus, all play is suspended.
The Future of This Season
As far as the next steps go, the NBA isn’t sure. They will continue to reassess the situation in the coming days. But for now, the league is on halt. With the playoffs set to tip-off in just over a month, everyone around the world is waiting for what will happen next.
Update
The NBA has suspended operations for at least 30 days according to Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star. The 30-day mark is a minimum, as the league could continue the suspension even longer.
The NBA has told its teams that the league will be suspended for 30 days, minimum.
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) March 12, 2020
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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