Breaking News: The NBA has suspended the 2019-20 regular season

Rudy Gobert has tested positive for coronavirus.

The NBA has officially suspended the 2019-20 regular season due to the coronavirus.

There had already been discussion of teams playing in empty arenas, and the Golden State Warriors were set to play the next two weeks without fans. The tipping point that led to the suspension of the regular season appears to be Jazz center Rudy Gobert testing positive for the virus.

This was announced just after tonight’s Thunder — Jazz game was abruptly postponed just before tip-off “due to unforseen circumstances”. Not only does everyone associated with the team and Gobert likely need to be quarantined now, the same can likely be said for every other player, coach, referee, employee, fan, etc. he has been in contact with since he contracted the virus.

As of now there is no word on when or if the regular season will resume, but we will keep you informed.

Update: The NBA has officially released a statement:

The NBA announced that a player on the Utah Jazz has preliminarily tested positive for COVID-19. The test result was reported shortly prior to the tip-off of Wednesday’s game between the Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

At that time, Wednesday’s game was canceled. The affected player was not in the arena. The NBA is suspending game play following the conclusion of Wednesday’s schedule of games until further notice. The NBA will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic.

Breaking News: The NBA has suspended the 2019-20 regular season
Breaking News: The NBA has suspended the 2019-20 regular season