James said he knew he was going to get cleared because he never felt sick at all. James said earlier this season that he was vaccinated. “If what I had was a positive COVID test, then what are we doing? What are we talking about?” James said Friday. “I just thought it was handled very poorly, but being able to get cleared was definitely a breath of fresh air for not only myself, but for my family, friends and everybody that’s involved.”
More on Coronavirus Positives
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James said he was “confused,” “frustrated,” and “angry” after he was required to miss a game while in the NBA's health and safety protocols for a false positive COVID-19 test. James returned to the Lakers’ lineup in a 119-115 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday.
LeBron James said his brief stint in the NBA's health and safety protocols left him feeling "confused," "frustrated" and "angry" after his first game back in the Lakers' 119-115 loss to the LA Clippers on Friday night. James missed the Lakers' game against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday after returning a positive test for COVID-19 on Tuesday morning that required him to isolate from his team and fly back to L.A. solo on a plane chartered by the team. "I knew I was going to get cleared because I never, ever felt sick at all," James said after finishing with 23 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals against the Clippers. "I just thought it was just handled very poorly."
James said he tested negative first and his second test came back positive. He said he had to figure out a way to get home from Sacramento by himself Tuesday, as he wasn’t allowed to have anyone travel home with him. When he returned to Los Angeles, James had to put his family in isolation, calling it a “big-time inconvenience.” “Usually when you have a positive test, they’ll test you right away to make sure,” James said. “There was not a follow-up test after my positive test. It was straight into isolation and you’ve been put into protocol. That was the part that kind of angered me.”
Friday's loss dropped the Lakers to 12-12, seventh in the Western Conference, with their next game coming Tuesday at home against a Boston Celtics team that beat L.A. soundly at TD Garden on Nov. 19. "It's just tough when you're in and out of the lineup, especially when you, I guess, don't really have a reason to be out," Anthony Davis said, looking back at the James saga. "We were playing well. So it's just frustrating a little bit, but no one is feeling sorry for us. We're not feeling sorry for ourselves. We got to go out there and play basketball games with whoever is available."
Donovan said he spoke Wednesday to guard Coby White, who missed the game after testing positive for the coronavirus and being placed into the NBA's health and safety protocols. He said the guard's experience sounded similar to how it was for Vucevic when he missed seven games earlier. “Just felt like he has a cold,” Donovan said. “I don’t know if his symptoms progressively get worse or not, obviously it was one day since we found out. But just in my conversation with him, he didn’t feel too bad.”
Denver Nuggets guards Bones Hyland and Austin Rivers have entered into the league's health and safety protocols, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski on Wednesday. If they test positive for the virus, they will be away from the team for at least 10 days, which would result in at least six missed games.
Shams Charania: Sources: Nuggets guard Austin Rivers has entered health and safety protocols and is expected to miss several games, including tonight's game vs. Orlando. Another loss to the Denver lineup, now without Rivers, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr.
Ryan Ward: Anthony Davis on LeBron James: "COVID is a scary thing, especially with all the new variants coming out. He says he's good and is asymptomatic."
Cayleigh Griffin: Coach Silas says DJ Augustin is out for health & safety protocols.
Shams Charania: 76ers‘ Joel Embiid (COVID-19) and Tobias Harris (hip) will return to lineup tonight vs. Minnesota.
Julia Poe: Nikola Vucevic will travel with the Bulls for this week's trip to Houston and Orlando. This doesn't mean he'll play — Donovan says that's still up to the team doctors — but this means he could make his big homecoming in Orlando on Friday.
Rob Schaefer: Billy Donovan said Nikola Vucevic is still in cardiovascular testing phase of COVID protocol. Not sure yet if he’ll travel to Houston and Orlando later in week, will know more after tonight’s game Added Vucevic seems to be doing “great” and it’s been good to catch up with him
Rich Hoffman: Doc Rivers on Joel Embiid, said that he's working out at the practice facility in Camden: "He passed one of the tests, I think he has another big one today. Then after that, we have to decide what we want to do. But the fact that he's out working again is huge."
Rob Schaefer: Nikola Vucevic is out of isolation and beginning cardiovascular testing, per Billy Donovan. Adds he expects Vucevic to be in the arena tonight
Chris Fedor: Neither #Cavs Lauri Markkanen nor Jarrett Allen are listed on injury report for tomorrow night. Cedi Osman (back) and Lamar Stevens (ankle) are DOUBTFUL.
Keith Pompey: #Sixers swingman @Matisse Thybulle will play tonight. He’s not scheduled to play a lot of minutes.
Adrian Wojnarowski: The NBA is planning increased Covid testing for staff and players throughout the Thanksgiving holidays, sources tell ESPN. The league is obviously trying to avoid team-wide breakouts as families get together later this month.
Rob Schaefer: Billy Donovan said that, as of last update, Nikola Vucevic hasn't advanced to cardiovascular testing phase of health and safety protocol, meaning he's not yet producing negative COVID-19 tests Vucevic entered protocol six days ago (Nov. 11)
Justin Garcia: Khris Middleton is expected to return on Wednesday - just in time for a 5 game homestand
Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic tested positive for COVID-19 and entered the NBA's health and safety protocols on Thursday, sources told ESPN. The Bulls listed Vucevic in the protocols, but the positive test means the two-time All-Star selection will be sidelined for 10 days or until he has two negative PCR tests in a 24-hour period.
Keith Pompey: Tobias Harris could return from COVID-19 for the Sixers’ game Thursday against the Raptors inquirer.com/sixers/sixers-… via @phillyinquirer
Noah Levick: Doc Rivers: Joel Embiid is “not doing great, he’s struggling with it. Similar to Tobias.” Rivers says Sixers having four players in health and safety protocols is “clearly a concern.”
Ky Carlin: Doc Rivers says the testing is fine and they went through all the protocols today. They’re concerned with the players who have COVID. He added Isaiah Joe is doing ok, but it’s only the 1st day. #Sixers
The streaking 76ers will be without their second-best player for an extended period of time. Tobias Harris tested positive for COVID-19 and could be sidelined at least 10 days, according to sources. The power forward, who is vaccinated, received the positive PCR test result on Tuesday night. A vaccinated player only has to take a test if they are symptomatic or were in close contact with someone who has tested positive. Harris was both. He has been experiencing fatigue and congestion.
Shams Charania: Spurs center Jakob Poeltl has entered health and safety protocols and is expected to miss several games, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. Poeltl is averaging 13.9 points and 9.7 rebounds for San Antonio so far this season.
Adrian Wojnarowski: NBA players testing positive have two avenues toward a return to play -- waiting 10 days from testing positive or onset of symptoms, or passing consecutive negative PCR tests 24 hours apart. Finally, players who experienced symptoms must pass cardiac testing prior to a return.
Shams Charania: Sources: Cleveland's Lauri Markkanen is expected to miss several games due to health and safety protocols. Around NBA, Markkanen, Cavaliers' Kevin Love, Milwaukee's Khris Middleton and Philadelphia's Tobias Harris have entered protocols this week.
Keith Pompey: #Sixers PF Tobias Harris received a positive COVID-19 test, according to sources. He will miss at least 10 days. This is sad for the vaccinated player, who took all the proper precautions to remain safe.
Jamal Collier: Khris Middleton has tested positive for COVID-19, per Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer. Team thought he’d originally come down with a cold/flu, but when he didn’t improve he got tested
Marc Stein: Milwaukee's Khris Middleton is the NBA's latest player to enter the league's health and safety protocols ... after Cleveland's Kevin Love and Philadelphia's Tobias Harris yesterday.
Tim Bontemps: Ime Udoka says Al Horford is doing OK after testing positive for COVID-19. Based off when he tested positive (yesterday), he should miss the opener against the Knicks in New York next week. He could be back for the home opener against Washington next Friday.
Jared Weiss: Ime Udoka said he was likely going to rest the main guys tonight regardless of Jaylen Brown and Al Horford being out due to COVID. Coaches are still working with Brown and Horford remotely to do what work they can from home isolation.
Aaron Rose: Nick Nurse said there were no changes to the team's COVID testing after finding out that Al Horford, who the Raptors played on Saturday, tested positive. He did say, "I think you’re mostly concerned with the guys out there playing against him."
John Karalis: Boston Celtics announce Al Horford has tested positive for COVID-19 and is in isolation
Jared Weiss: Jaylen Brown tested positive for COVID-19 today, per the Celtics. Team says he is asymptomatic and quarantining.
Abby Chin: #Celtics announce new Head Coach Ime Udoka has a breakthrough case of Covid-19. He is in his 10th day of isolation and will not be at media day. Udoka is expected to be at the opening of training camp Tuesday.
Kellan olson: Devin Booker on his Twitch stream (http://twitch.tv/dbook ) confirms he has COVID-19. Said it has been about a week and he'll be back in no time. He said he's straight right now and the worst part is no taste and smell. He did not want to say if he has been vaccinated or not.
Former NBA All-Star and Slam Dunk Contest champion Cedric Ceballos tweeted Monday that he'd been moved out of isolation and was "COVID-19 free" but was still in the intensive care unit and dealing with several things relating to the virus. Thanking those wishing him well in recent days, Ceballos said that while he is out of isolation, he still is unable to "breathe, walk or function" on his own yet. "I will still fight and I ask for uplifting on your end," Ceballos said.
Rockets coach Stephen Silas was unable to attend Friday’s introductory news conference for the team's draft picks because he is in NBA health and safety protocols. Silas said he has “very minor symptoms” and that he is fully vaccinated for COVID. NBA protocols require coaches, players and staff to isolate if they have been in contact with individuals that tested positive.
Spain players Marc Gasol, Alberto Abalde and Usman Garuba have been placed in semi-isolation after coming into close contact with with a person who tested positive for COVID-19,EFE reports, citing confirmation by the Spanish Federation. All three players can practice and play in the games but have to stay in individual rooms and travel in a different vehicle than the rest of the national team squad.
Marc J. Spears: USA Basketball Team member Zach LaVine has cleared USA Basketball's health and safety protocols and will join the USA team in Tokyo Thursday afternoon. LaVine, who went into USA Basketball's health and safety protocols Monday and did not travel with the team to Tokyo.
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."
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.
To be clear, he is in Team USA’s COVID-19 protocols. The Athletic does not report a player’s status as it relates to the virus without the player announcing/confirming it. He is still in Las Vegas, sources said, but is quarantined while awaiting further information, and no decisions will be made until Beal and Team USA have all the facts. The Olympics begin July 23 in Tokyo, with Team USA’s first game set for July 25. Generally speaking, any athlete who tests positive for the virus now will not be permitted to compete.
Is any other Team USA player or coach in the protocol? No, sources said. Nor would the team be in danger of disqualification from the Olympics due to contact tracing. Last week, three players on the select team — Immanuel Quickley, P.J. Washington and Miles Bridges — were sent home after being placed in COVID protocol. If a player or coach is vaccinated, it can impact whether they are placed in the protocol.
Stefan Bondy: Immanuel Quickley did not test positive for COVID-19 but was pulled from Team USA Select camp because of contact tracing, according to a source.
Gabriel Deck tested positive for coronavirus, the Argentina Basketball Confederation announced Friday. Deck, 26, has been retested ahead of the planned trip of the senior Argentina national team to Las Vegas. The results of the second test are pending. He will rejoin the national team training camp once he is cleared, assuming the second test confirms he contracted COVID-19. In the meantime, he remains isolated. He is asymptomatic and in very good health, as noted by the CABB.
Kellan Olson: Chris Paul said he messed around a bit on the court at his house but other than that didn't do anything while he was under health and safety protocols. On testing positive for the virus: "Shit happens."
Gina Mizell: Chris Paul said that a few "stars in our league" called to check on him while in protocols and told him "they just love the way our team is" as far as playing together and for each other #Suns
There is optimism within the Phoenix Suns organization that Chris Paul, out for the start of the Western Conference finals because of the league's health and safety protocols, could return for Game 3 on Thursday in Los Angeles, sources told ESPN. However, as of the start of Game 2 on Tuesday against the LA Clippers, Paul had yet to be cleared, sources said.
Marc Stein: The Suns say Chris Paul remains in health and safety protocols. Further updates on his status will be provided as appropriate.
Marc Stein: The NBA announces that one player, out of a possible 164 tested for COVID-19, has returned a confirmed positive test since June 9 ... after three consecutive weeks with zero positive tests leaguewide.
Tim Reynolds: Suns say they will update Chris Paul's protocols situation on Saturday. Earliest Game 1 of the West finals is Sunday.
Clutch Points App: Jalen Rose says Chris Paul has been vaccinated. Hopefully that means he won't miss too much time after entering the NBA health and safety protocol
NBA Central: Chris Paul tested positive for COVID-19, per @Gambo987 pic.twitter.com/RhJUyFO8jG
Phoenix Suns guard Chris Paul has entered the NBA's health and safety protocols and is sidelined for an indefinite period of time, sources tell The Athletic. Paul's status is up in the air for the start of the Western Conference finals, according to sources. Paul’s Suns will face the winner of the Jazz-Clippers series, which is tied 2-2.
Depending on the medical circumstance, an isolation period could be shorter for a vaccinated individual. The NBA has yet to release the schedule for the conference finals, but if a Game 7 is needed in the Jazz-Clippers conference semifinals, it will be played Sunday.
Shams Charania: Sources: Zero NBA players tested positive for coronavirus out of 337 tested in the last week.
Shams Charania: Sources: One new NBA player tested positive for coronavirus out of 496 tested since May 12.
Over the last three weeks, De’Aaron Fox has endured headaches, body aches, chills and a serious case of restlessness, while helplessly watching his Kings fade from the playoff race without him. A particularly potent strain of the coronavirus walloped Fox on April 22 and has kept the Kings’ star point guard quarantined at home ever since. (He is expected to be cleared for basketball activities soon, assuming he passes NBA protocols.) In the meantime, Sacramento lost rookie stud Tyrese Haliburton to a season-ending knee injury.
First, Fox has to get out of the league’s health and safety protocols. The coronavirus “hit me like a truck,” he said, with headaches, body aches, chills and dehydration. It also hit his fiancé, former Cal point guard Recee Caldwell, though both are fine now. They’ve passed the time in quarantine watching a lot of TV and engaging in daily battles of Ping-Pong. (“It gets competitive, because the scores are usually super close,” Fox said.)
Alex Schiffer: Nic Claxton, who missed seven games due to health and safety protocols said he tested positive for COVID-19 but didn't have symptoms. Had to quarantine in Miami and had just a bike and 40-pound weight to work out with.
Shams Charania: Sources: Four new NBA players tested positive for coronavirus out of 492 tested in the last week.
Losing starting point guard Dennis Schroder to the NBA’s health and safety protocols for the game against the Raptors left some of the Lakers wondering about the process and how it works. “I’m not sure if he has it or not. I don’t know,” Kuzma said about whether or not Schroder tested positive for the coronavirus. “But it’s just very unfortunate that the league’s protocols and how they go about things. I’ve had inconclusive tests and been negative, and we’ve had a bunch of guys with that. And it just sucks. Obviously, it’s just a lot of public media control with, I feel like, how the protocols are ran. So, I mean, that’s just my opinion. But it’s tough.”
Shams Charania: Sources: Two new NBA players tested positive for coronavirus out of 488 tested since April 21.
Roy Parry: Magic coach Steve Clifford remains in the league's health and safety protocols and will not be traveling with the team to Cleveland for its game Wednesday against the Cavaliers, according to a team official.
Team officials are holding out hope that the test results were a false positive, but the most encouraging news is that Clifford has shown no ill effects, at least so far. He has not had a fever. His blood oxygen levels are normal. “I was shocked that it was positive,” Clifford said Saturday night after The Athletic reported that he had tested positive. “I feel 100 percent.”
Josh Robbins: Steve Clifford also said one of the officials in the Magic's game Tuesday in Atlanta tested positive for the coronavirus, placing the Magic in the league's enhanced protocol.
Josh Robbins: On a Zoom call with reporters, Steve Clifford reiterated that he feels fine and has no symptoms. He had a positive test Thursday night, two negative tests Friday and a positive test this morning. Clifford took another test this afternoon and will have another tomorrow morning.
Tim Reynolds: Steve Clifford does not expect to coach tomorrow night. Still TBD, officially. If he cannot go, Tyrone Corbin will coach the Magic.
Adrian Wojnarowski: Orlando Magic coach Steve Clifford tested positive for the coronavirus, but results have shown to be inconclusive and he could coach on Sunday night vs. Pacers if he tests negative twice prior to tip-off, sources tell ESPN. Clifford has been vaccinated and has been asymptomatic.
The Magic were scheduled to practice Saturday and would have benefited from the work, especially considering their recent roster turnover. But the team had to cancel the session due to health and safety protocols after the positive test for Clifford. He has received his first vaccination shot and is asymptomatic and the team is hoping for a false negative, league sources indicated.
Josh Robbins: Reporting with @Shams Charania: League sources say Magic head coach Steve Clifford has tested positive for the coronavirus, but the Magic are holding out hope it is a false positive. Clifford has had his first vaccine shot already and is asymptomatic.
Fournier missed the previous nine games due to a bout with COVID-19. The Boston Celtics swingman struggled in the 109-104 loss to the Brooklyn Nets, missing all seven of his shots in 22 minutes. After the game, he opened up about his difficult experience with the virus. "My experience -- where do I start? The first two days I was doing great, no symptoms at all, and then flu-like symptoms, high fever, really tired, fatigue, all that," Fournier said.
Evan Fournier: "I honestly stayed in bed and slept for four or five days. The roughest part was ramping up the activity. The last two days of practice was really hard. I had moments where I was doing good and moments where I was exhausted. That's why you have to push through it. You have to do it to feel better. I don't want to spend another week just ramping up my activity and doing cardio and all that. I need reps with the guys."
Shams Charania: Sources: Three new NBA players tested positive for coronavirus out of 488 tested since April 14.
