NEW YORK — Fifteen days after the Brooklyn Nets announced that four players had tested positive for COVID-19, general manager Sean Marks said that Brooklyn’s roster is free from coronavirus symptoms.
Speaking to reporters during a conference call on Wednesday morning, Marks said that the Nets’ traveling party has completed a two-week quarantine and will continue to adhere to the government-issued social-distancing guidelines.
“As it pertains to the team,” Marks said, “I sense like all of us, like the rest of New York and really the rest of the globe, we’re trying to deal with this as best we can.”
The symptoms of the coronavirus can include fever, cough, chills and extreme exhaustion. Many people who have coronavirus do not show any symptoms. Three of the four Nets players to test positive were asymptomatic.
Marks said he foresees players being retested only if the government or NBA requires it to return to playing.
The NBA season has been on pause since March 11, and since then, more than a dozen players and at least one team owner, the Knicks’ James Dolan, have tested positive for coronavirus. During the three-week hiatus, many teams have distributed workout equipment to their players’ homes to keep them in shape.
For the Nets, their injured players have had more time to heal. Nets star Kyrie Irving had shoulder surgery in February and was expected to be out for the remainder of the 2019-20 season. Kevin Durant, who sustained an Achilles injury in the 2019 NBA Finals, had been ruled out for the entire season.
Marks did not definitively say how the extended postponement of the season could affect whether Durant — who tested positive for the coronavirus — or Irving returns to the court this season. Marks said that while both players are continuing their rehabilitation, the process could be slowed because the practice facility is closed.
Marks said he will have a better understanding of Durant’s and Irving’s timelines to return to play in three weeks to a month, when he knows more about the league’s plans to resume the season.
“I couldn’t give an answer on when they’ll play this season,” Marks said. “I don’t think it’s fair to those athletes nor the performance team to put a timeline on it. I think everyone is dealing with bigger, far more pressing things.”
When the league paused the season, the Nets had just elevated Jacque Vaughn to interim head coach to replace Kenny Atkinson. Marks said that right now, the team’s coaching search is on pause and they are not currently reaching out to candidates.
“That would completely not be fair to our group,” Marks said.
In his wide-ranging conference call, Marks also pointed out that Nets owner Joe Tsai and the Alibaba Group have been working to supply New York hospitals, who are experiencing a severe shortage of protective gear, with personal protective equipment.
“We know we have a long way to go here and it’s gonna take every single person, every staff member, every player,” Marks said.
Courtesy: ESPN.com
