On Friday night Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant was pulled from their 123-117 loss to Toronto in the third quarter after it was revealed that an associate of his tested positive for the coronavirus. He was initially pulled out of the pre-game lineup but then allowed to played because the initial test results came back inconclusive.
Once the test came back positive Durant was pulled. According to the NBA’s health and safety protocols, “we do not require a player to be quarantined until a close contact has a confirmed positive test.”
Yeah that all makes sense but why not postpone the game because when the test comes back positive the entire lock room has already been put at risk?
Taking Durant out of the line-up or off of the floor once he’s been running up and down the floor all night doesn’t decrease the risk of other players getting the virus. They’ve already been around him all night.
If we’re doing contract tracing then the entire team and coaches are in that mix. Not to mention the opposing team. None of this makes any sense.
James Harden broke it down better than anyone when he said, “Durant feels the same way. Especially with him already having it and we get tested every single day. He’s been negative. So, I don’t understand what the problem is. The game should’ve been postponed, I feel like. If we’re talking about contact tracing. He was around all of us. So I don’t understand why he wasn’t allowed to play, then allowed to play, then taken back off the court. If that was the case, we should’ve postponed the game.”
What would have made sense is to pull Durant as soon as they got wind that his associate had been tested and made him wait until the test came back positive or negative. Why take the chance of allowing him to show up in the locker room to potentially spread the virus if there was an inconclusive test? Just wait until the test comes back either way.
Keep in mind that all of this is happening while teams are doing everything they can to keep the players and staff safe. It’s difficult to do because the teams aren’t in a bubble. That means that players can potentially come into contact with anybody and especially those that aren’t being tested on a daily basis.
Therefore, the risk goes up every time they walk out of the building. We know all of this but the league is still going to have an All-Star Game in an OPEN city (Atlanta) to put EVERYBODY at even further risk. Absolute foolishness!!!!
If they’re going to play the season put the players back into the bubble and proceed. As long as players can come and go as they please this type of thing is going to continue to happen. Ridiculous!!