PRESS ASSOCIATED
Three Dallas Mavericks players are out right now because of Covid-19. Jalen Brunson, Dorian Finney-Smith and Josh Richardson are going under NBA-led health and safety protocols, according to the league’s official injury report.
according to confirmed reports, one player tested positive for the virus. The other two, who underwent a negative test, are quarantined away from the team due to communication problems. No one currently knows which three are positive and what quarantine is.
Finney-Smith and Richardson are key players in the Dallas starting lineup. Brunson is the main guard of the team off the bench.
The Mavericks first learned about the coronavirus outbreak Friday afternoon before leaving Denver on a flight to Dallas. Brunson, Finney-Smith and Richardson stayed in Denver and did not travel with the team. The Mavericks thrush won extra time against the Nuggets, 124-117, the night before.
That quarantine misses at least seven days, according to league guidelines. The player who confirmed positively will be away from the team even further.
There are two ways for that player to return to work. One is based on time. Under that resolution, the player must pass at least 10-days – the minimum for all players who are positive – from their first advanced test or the start of the signals. The other route is test-based. The player must perform at least two consecutive negative PCR tests at least 24 hours apart.
This is the first positive case Dallas has had since the start of the 2020-21 season at the end of December. Throughout the league, teams receive a series of daily tests for the virus to prevent its spread. Mavericks Head Coach Rick Carlisle explained some of what his team does every day before the game against the Nuggets.
“Part of the medical protocols and having a 24-hour test and a quick test if someone is doing a positive test, there is a time of 24 or a few more hours where there is a incubation time,” Carlisle said. “And in the first 24 hours, it is believed that someone who is contracting it is not contagious.
“Therefore, the system allows for the testing of an advanced test from the organization to quarantine, to another test to confirm that it was positive so there is equipment. For all this to work, you need to follow the details of the daily protocols. ”
Dallas is just the latest team to hit Covid-19, as case numbers continue to balloon across the country. So far, the NBA has canceled just one game because of the virus, but players are still testing positive or going against quarantine as a result of being exposed.
The Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia recently put 76ers players – including Kevin Durant – under league health and safety protocols.
The NBA suspended the 2019-20 season in March last year due to the release of Covid-19 among players. When the season resumed, it did so within a $ 180 million bubble at the Walt Disney World Tourist Center in Orlando, Florida. During the four-month bubble, no player tested positive.
This season, the league decided to go back into bubble form, opting instead to travel 30 teams as a regular season. It is a decision that presents many more challenges, including the risk of exposure.
“We need to stay resilient and realize that there are no promises,” said Carlisle. “When you try to create a travel bubble, and that’s what we do as a league, there are definitely more variations. But the hope is that if someone throws a positive test out of there, they will be taken away from the group and you can move on from there. ”