The National Basketball Association (NBA) suspended the remainder of its season on Wednesday night after a player tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) just before a game’s tip-off.
The league made the announcement after the player fell ill just before a matchup between the Utah Jazz and the Oklahoma City Thunders, the New York Times reports.
The league said the suspension would take effect after the completion of Wednesday’s schedule.
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“The N.B.A. will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic,” the league said in its statement.
NBA To Suspend Season Following Tonight’s Games pic.twitter.com/2PTx2fkLlW
— NBA (@NBA) March 12, 2020
The Jazz-Thunders game was set to begin Wednesday evening at Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Arena when, within seconds away from starting, the Thunder’s head medical staffer ran onto the court to talk to referees.
Players from both teams then left for their locker rooms.
Fans seated in the arena were entertained by musical and dance performances during a 20-minute delay, but later an announcer informed the crowd that the game had been postponed “due to unforeseen circumstances.”
According to ESPN, the player who tested positive was Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert.
A source told the sports network that Gobert was never at the arena, but was in Oklahoma City ready to play if he’d tested negative for the disease that was recently declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization.
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