ESPN host and analyst Jay Williams won’t broadcast the remaining games of the NBA Finals because he has tested positive for coronavirus. Williams, who in a video posted online said he is vaccinated, is “doing OK.” He will, however, miss the remainder of the NBA Finals in his role as an analyst on ABC’s live on-site studio coverage during games alongside Maria Taylor, Adrian Wojnarowski and Jalen Rose. “The last couple of days for me have been challenging. But I wanted to be the first to tell you guys that you will not see me at Game 5, Game 6 or a potential Game 7 of the NBA Finals because I have tested positive for COVID. I have received both my shots. I am fully vaccinated. But this is our new normal.”
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Jay Williams
Position: -
Born: 09/10/81
Height: 6-2 / 1.88
Weight:194 lbs. / 88.4 kg.
Earnings: $8,713,351 ($12,261,457*)
Born: 09/10/81
Height: 6-2 / 1.88
Weight:194 lbs. / 88.4 kg.
Earnings: $8,713,351 ($12,261,457*)
Williams will quarantine in a hotel room for the next 10 days. His 2 1/2-year-old daughter is immunosuppressed, he said, so he and his family have been “hypersensitive” to the virus. “This is a great reminder … that we have to continue to be as diligent as possible,” he said.
Williams tried to applaud the Celtics for their hire of Ime Udoka as their new head coach. However, he called Udoka the “first head coach of color” hired by the team. Williams was wrong. The Celtics were actually the first North American professional sports team with a black head coach — Bill Russell in 1966. K.C. Jones also coached the team. And it was just over a decade ago that Doc Rivers coached the team to a championship. Williams later claimed on Twitter that he had been hacked.
Jay Williams thinks a Luka Doncic-Knicks union is possible amid the ongoing drama in Dallas. “Earlier in the year I said New York could be a potential opportunity [for Luka] and people killed me for it. It’s feasible,” Williams argued on his “Keyshawn, JWill & Zubin” show Thursday — one day after the Mavericks parted ways with GM Donnie Nelson.
Later on Thursday, Doncic said Nelson’s exit was “tough” for him. “There are feasible scenarios, where you start looking at, where will Luka want to go and build if it doesn’t work out in Dallas,” Williams continued, noting that “New York isn’t the only option. “But I will say there’s a lot of rumblings, and [Mavericks owner] Mark Cuban needs to put water on that fire.”
Kevin Durant blasted Jay Williams on Twitter for bringing up a private story where the Nets forward allegedly told him to not compare him to Giannis Antetokounmpo when the two met at a holiday party years ago. In an Instagram comment made after the quote started to go viral, Durant called the quote a “lie.” On Wednesday, Williams responded to him on ESPN: “I stand by my story … I was probably wrong for sharing a personal story. But that’s what we do. That’s what we do here on our show. And it was meant as a complement for Kevin Durant to show that there are levels to this.”
