The NBA (National Basketball Association) announced the suspension of the championship until recently, after a player from Utah Jazz tested positive for coronavirus.
The results were announced shortly before the start of the meeting between the Utah Jazz and the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. The NBA announced that the player is Rudy Gomber, who tested positive, and was not on the field.
The home team doctor entered the field shortly before the jambol of the match and demanded that the players leave for the locker room. The athletes of both teams were immediately quarantined. The French center has been sick for the last few days, but he was following his team. He had come in contact with hundreds of people, teammates, opponents, journalists.
"The NBA is suspending the games until further notice. "The NBA will use this interruption to determine the next steps to move forward in relation to the coronavirus pandemic," the statement said.
The players from the teams that the Utah Jazz played in the last 10 days were informed about self-protection, ESPN reported. These teams are the Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons and Toronto Raptors, ESPN added.
"This is a very serious moment. "I think the organizers acted correctly and prudently," said Miami Heat coach Eric Spelstra, while Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said the situation was "crazy."
"This may not be true," he told ESPN. "It's not in the realm of reality. "It looks more like a movie than reality."
The NBA playoffs are scheduled to start on April 18 with the finals starting on June 4, but all of that has been postponed.