Skip to main content
2020 NBA Playoffs: How Would a Summer of Basketball Impact Players?
2020 NBA Playoffs: How Would a Summer of Basketball Impact Players?

NBA Star Kevin Durant Has Coronavirus - Which Is Trying To Tell Us Something

NBA Star Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets Has Coronavirus - Which Marks Another Sign of Its Seriousness

DALLAS - COVID-19 is our enemy. Yet the coronavirus is trying to tell us something.

The virus continues to plague the planet, of course. But to many sports fans, it's getting its moment and gaining its attention via sports figures who have contracted it.

On Tuesday, Kevin Durant and three other Brooklyn Net players tested positive for COVID-19. Kevin Durant identified himself as one of the four in talking with Shams Charania of The Athletic.

"Everyone be careful, take care of yourself and quarantine," Durant said. "We're going to get through this,"

All four Nets players, including Durant, are in quarantine. The Nets issued a press release:

"The organization is currently notifying anyone who has had known contact with the players, including recent opponents, and is working closely with state and local health authorities on reporting. All players and members of the Nets travel party are being asked to remain isolated, closely monitor their health and maintain constant communication with team medical staff. The health of our players and staff is of the highest priority to the organization and the team is doing everything within its power to ensure that those affected receive the best care possible.''

That's the message from the Nets, and here's the message from COVID-19: There are now seven NBA players that have tested positive for COVID-19. Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell and Christian Wood were the first three, with Gobert's positive test serving as the Wednesday night impetus to suspend the 2019-20 NBA season last week. 

Normalcy will be nice. In the case of the NBA, the league remains hopeful of resuming operations in the summer. But for now, along with the damage COVID-19 is doing - on our psyches, on our wallets, in our bodies - it's also doing us a favor. 

Illnesses to young, fit celebrity athletes are a warning to the rest of us. Heed it, as this Dallas Mavericks-driven video urges us to do. Self-quarantine. Social distancing. Flatten the curve. That's how the enemy loses. Hopefully, soon.