It has been four days since Adam Silver and the rest of the league office decided to suspend the 2019-20 NBA season amidst the recent concerns over the coronavirus.
The NBA was already taking preventative measures to minimize spread and exposure by agreeing to play games in arenas without fans in attendance, but that plan was quickly scrapped after it was discovered that Rudy Gobert was diagnosed with the coronavirus. The league immediately stopped the game between the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder and it snowballed into a full-blown suspension of all games.
Since Gobert’s diagnosis, he has received plenty of backlash from his own locker room to the rest of the world as he was reportedly careless about touching teammates and their things despite warnings to not do so.
However, Danny Green believes that all the blame and criticism is unwarranted, via Bleacher Report:
“I don’t think he should be blamed or bashed as much as he is."
Lakers SG Danny Green discusses Rudy Gobert and COVID-19 in the NBA in exclusive FaceTime with @TaylorRooks pic.twitter.com/Wgl4Ib2dER
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 14, 2020
Although Gobert was the first NBA player to test positive, it is impossible to know whether or not he was indeed the first person to contract the virus. He has received blame for infecting Donovan Mitchell but given how coronavirus can spread, it is well within the realm of possibility that the latter received it from another player, official, or someone else he may have crossed paths with.
Gobert took to Instagram to publicly apologize for his behavior and urged people to learn from his mistakes and practice being responsible and understanding during these tough times. He also donated a total of $500,000 to help those affected by the coronavirus, joining the rest of the owners and players who have looked to alleviate the financial burden of arena workers and game day operators.
It is unclear just how long the season suspension will last given how much information still needs to be gathered, but it is important in the meantime for everyone — not just the NBA — to be more judicious about going out in order to prevent the virus from spreading further.