Two players test positive for coronavirus inside NBA’s bubble

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

Well that’s not good.

The Golden State Warriors weren’t invited to the restart of the 2019-20 NBA season at the Disney Resort. Having just 15 wins to 50 losses when the season was suspended will do that.

But they’re surely still keeping an eye on what’s happening in the NBA. Whether you think the league should have come back months ago, or think that the season should be cancelled, the restart is a fascinating experiment, and it will tell us a lot about how well sports can function in this new reality.

Some of the first big news came out on Monday, when the league revealed info from the first batch of coronavirus tests. The NBA released a statement saying they had tested 322 players inside the bubble, and two of those players — who are currently anonymous — tested positive.

There are a few different viewpoints to have here. The optimistic view is that that’s a low rate, and players were quarantining in their rooms while they awaited results.

The pessimistic view is that players were tested prior to traveling, which means those two positive tests presumably happened en route, or in the bubble, and it’s fair to wonder if it might have spread a bit in the time since the tests were administered. Only time will tell.

It was also revealed that another prominent player has tested positive: Russell Westbrook. The Houston Rockets guard became the fourth 2020 All-Star to test positive (joining Nikola Jokic, Rudy Gobert, and Donovan Mitchell), and won’t travel to Florida until he has made a full recovery.

Here’s hoping all the players who have tested positive heal up safely. And hopefully the next round of results brings good news.