NBA’s COVID-19 Shutdown: An Oral History
- The Brooklyn Nets were set to face the Detroit Pistons on January 29, 2020, for chinese Cultural Night.
- Before the game, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver attended a reception in the Diamond Lounge, recognizing local Chinese American business leaders.
- David Ho, a virologist who had previously consulted with the NBA during Magic Johnson's HIV declaration in the early 1990s.
Teh Night the NBA Changed: Inside the COVID-19 Shutdown
Table of Contents
- Teh Night the NBA Changed: Inside the COVID-19 Shutdown
- The Day the NBA Stopped: Inside the Coronavirus Shutdown
- The Night the NBA Stopped: Inside the gobert COVID-19 Revelation
- The Night the NBA Stopped: Inside the Oklahoma City Thunder Game That Changed Everything
- The Night the NBA Stopped: Inside the COVID-19 Shutdown
- The Night the NBA Stopped: Inside the COVID-19 Shutdown
- The Day the NBA Shut Down: A Chronicle of Panic and Uncertainty
- The Day the NBA Stopped: A Look back at March 11,2020
- The Night the NBA stopped: Inside the Gobert COVID-19 Revelation
The Brooklyn Nets were set to face the Detroit Pistons on January 29, 2020, for chinese Cultural Night. The evening was filled with Lunar New Year celebrations, including special warmup shirts, Chinese announcements, and traditional lion dancers. fans enjoyed custom calligraphy and nian gao desserts.
Before the game, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver attended a reception in the Diamond Lounge, recognizing local Chinese American business leaders. The crowded room held close to 50 attendees.
Silver noticed Dr. David Ho, a virologist who had previously consulted with the NBA during Magic Johnson’s HIV declaration in the early 1990s. Dr. Ho, invited by nets owner Joe Tsai, greeted Silver, and the conversation quickly turned to the looming threat of COVID-19.
A Fateful Question
“What do you think is going to happen?” Silver asked Ho. This was weeks after Silver had first learned about the virus spreading in China and days after closing the league’s Chinese offices as a precaution.
Dr. Ho had been aware of the virus since Christmas 2019, having consulted with specialists in China during the SARS outbreak in 2002. He recalled the severe impact of SARS, noting, “You would not believe how that region was affected. You could go to Beijing and there would be no cars on the street.”
Ho emphasized the seriousness of the situation, pointing to the Chinese goverment’s lockdown of Wuhan on January 23. He didn’t know the exact threat of COVID-19, but the lockdown signaled a grave concern.
Ho highlighted a telling sign: “If you notice,” he told Silver, “the restaurants in Chinatown are empty.”
He explained,”The Chinese community in the U.S. are quite aware of what’s going on in China — much more than the general public. And the chinatown restaurants are a reflection of that. People are scared.”
the 15-minute conversation left a lasting impression on Silver. The next morning, January 30, the same day the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global public health emergency, Silver asked Ho to consult with the NBA. Ho agreed.
On January 31, the NBA sent its first memo to general managers, team physicians, and athletic trainers, noting six cases in America and stating the league was “closely monitoring the spread of a respiratory illness caused by a novel coronavirus.” The memo included CDC guidelines on hygiene and avoiding contact with sick individuals. The subject line: “coronavirus outbreak.”
Early Febuary: Preparing for the Unknown
By early February, Silver began stocking up on supplies.”My wife was laughing at me and saying, ‘Why are you doing this?'” Silver recounted. “I go, ‘This is what we’re talking about every day at work. It’s only toilet paper, but let’s get the extra toilet paper.’ She told me I was being an alarmist.”
On February 15, during All-Star Weekend in chicago, Silver, along with David Weiss and John DiFiori, met with the NBA physicians Association. dr. Lisa Callahan, president of the association, recalled the league’s leadership “really putting COVID-19 on our radar as a potential league issue.”
Additional memos were sent to teams on February 24, 27, and 29, advising consultation with infectious disease specialists, temperature checks, and coordination with local medical centers. In early March, further recommendations included avoiding autographs and prioritizing fist bumps over high-fives.
On march 2, Golden state warriors coach Steve Kerr and his staff attended a concert in denver. “Everybody was jammed together, and we were kind of sitting there wondering, is this OK?” Kerr said. “Are we supposed to be doing this?”
By March 6, the NBA prepared teams for the possibility of playing without fans.
March 9: The Touch Heard around the World
On March 9, Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, returning from a road trip, playfully touched microphones and recorders at a press conference after a morning shootaround in Salt Lake City. This act was seen as a dismissal of concerns about the virus.
Key Moment: Rudy Gobert touches microphones, downplaying virus concerns.
The next day,March 10,the Jazz front office and training staff met for 45 minutes to discuss COVID-19 protocols. Mike Elliott, then the Jazz vice president of health and performance, stated, “We took it very seriously and wanted to make sure that we were prepared and that our athletes heard it from a reputable source.”
The team flew to Oklahoma City for a game against the Thunder. Gobert began experiencing symptoms earlier that day. After landing, Dennis Lindsey, then the executive vice president of basketball operations for the Jazz, received a call from Elliot about Gobert’s condition.
“In my mind,” Lindsey said of that call, “it’s like, OK, here we go.”
Eric Waters, the Jazz’s head athletic trainer, found Gobert with a fever and chills at the 21c Museum Hotel in Oklahoma City.
By 10 p.m. ET, the Jazz contacted Dr. Jim Barrett, the Thunder’s team doctor. Barrett arrived at the hotel by 11:15 p.m.
Elliott explained the testing strategy: ”At the time, there was some question as to whether or not there were any COVID tests in Oklahoma… So they weren’t just going to start passing out tests to us… so we needed to have a bona fide reason… The strategy was that they would test Rudy for strep throat, for influenza A and B and then administer a PCR-20 test… which would leave us to the point that we would need to mobilize one of those COVID tests.”
Around midnight, tests for influenza and strep throat came back negative. By the next morning, Gobert’s PCR-20 test was also negative. The Jazz shared this information, but the state Board of Health decided Gobert should be tested for COVID-19.
March 11: The Day the NBA Stopped
At 9:32 p.m. on March 11, 2020, the NBA announced that a Utah jazz player – later identified as Gobert – had tested positive for COVID-19, suspending the season. Dr. Vivek Murthy,a former U.S.surgeon general consulting with the NBA, saw the news with his family.
“Sports have always been an vital part of American culture,” Murthy said. “And when the NBA suspended its season, that was a powerful signal to people that something profound about our way of life is about to change.”
For many Americans, this marked the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. “That was a key moment in NBA history,” Ho reflected. “And as you look back, it clearly is a key moment in American history as well.”
The Jazz arrived at the 21c Museum Hotel in Oklahoma City after leaving the airport. Reporters were notified that media availability would be at the hotel instead of the arena. Gobert and guard Emmanuel Mudiay did not attend the shootaround, reportedly feeling sick.
Mike conley, then with the Utah Jazz, recalled the surreal atmosphere as the team awaited test results, not knowing the full extent of what was to come.
March 11, 2020, was a day that changed the landscape of professional sports in America. As the coronavirus outbreak intensified, the NBA faced a critical decision that would reverberate throughout the nation.
The Warnings Emerge
Even as Dr. Anthony Fauci warned congress at 10:59 a.m. that “it is going to get worse,” the sports world continued its routines, seemingly unaware of the impending disruption. However, behind the scenes, concerns were mounting.
San Francisco’s Stance
Around noon, Rick Welts, then-president of the Golden State Warriors, met with San Francisco Mayor London Breed. The Warriors were scheduled to host the Brooklyn Nets the following night, March 12, at Chase center.Welts hoped to salvage the game, but Breed stood firm.
Welts: “My pitch was like,just let us get thru this one game tomorrow night and then whatever we have to do,we have to do,but we’ll figure it out. And [Breed is] just like,I can’t do it. And I’m like, what do you mean you can’t do it? She goes, well, the best advice I have is if you guys play the game, you’re going to have to do it with no fans in the building.”
Breed’s decision was unwavering: all gatherings of more than 1,000 people in San Francisco were banned. Welts relayed the news to then-Warriors GM Bob Myers and then informed the league.
Welts: “There’s silence on the other end of the phone. And so he is like, ‘OK, get back here. We’ll go meet with the team when you get back.’ So sometime between that call and arriving back, I called the league – just to put the league on notice: this is what we were going to have to do. I got back to the office.”
The news was delivered to the players. The reaction was immediate and varied.
Welts: “The players are getting ready for practice.Bob and I went into the locker room. Bob says,’Rick’s got something to tell you.’ And I say, ‘Guys, we get to play tomorrow night, but the city’s going to make us play in front of no fans.’ And I can remember it probably was only 20 seconds, but it felt like about two minutes where people were looking at me — what does that mean? Playing in front of no fans?”
Amidst the uncertainty, Stephen Curry’s response offered a moment of levity.
Welts: “And then honestly, the only person to speak up was Stephen Curry, who said, ‘OK, well, can we have our own playlist?'”
Global Pandemic Declared
At 12:26 p.m., the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. This announcement heightened concerns within the NBA.
Michele Roberts, then-National Basketball Players Association executive director, arrived at the NBA’s headquarters for a crucial meeting with Commissioner Adam Silver and other league leaders. Roberts was prepared to advocate for player safety above all else.
roberts: “I remember walking into the meeting — having consulted with our experts and my senior management team — and being prepared to demand that in the event any of our players tested positive that we had to shut down the games. By then, I was terrified of this thing.It was killing people all over the planet and clearly about to kill people in our country.”
Roberts emphasized the need to protect players and fans.
Roberts: “The notion of having thes organized games, playing in these 10,000-plus [capacity] arenas with how many people were affected, was ridiculous. So I remember we all said, ‘OK, this is not debatable, this is not negotiable.’ So when we walked in, we were prepared for a fight — and there was no fight.”
Silver and the NBA leadership were in agreement.
Roberts: “Adam said, ‘Absolutely, we completely concur. We’re not going to have our people exposed.We’re not going to have our fans come out to watch us play and have them be in a position of possibly becoming infected.’ So it was one of the easiest non-arguments.”
Silver acknowledged the seriousness of the situation.
Silver: “Clearly, she was taking it incredibly seriously. I honestly don’t recall such a specific conversation — if we get one positive test, we’ll shut down — because that was not automatic. …So it wasn’t as if we had a preset plan in place – one positive test and we’ll shut down. But certainly we talked, we discussed all the different permutations.”
Roberts was prepared to take drastic action if necessary.
Roberts: “If Adam had pushed back, I would probably have been in the position of recommending our players stop playing. Just refuse to play.”
Silver considered a temporary hiatus.
Silver: “I also raised with Michele at the meeting, given that those county and state orders were being discussed around the country, the possibility that we might be dealing with a hodgepodge of ordinances.And I think I raised with her… the possibility of taking a hiatus.”
He proposed a two-week shutdown to develop safety protocols.
Silver: “I think I had floated two weeks in which we would shut down the league as opposed to playing without fans.We would shut down the league, work with Dr. Ho, public health officials, doctors, other experts, and come up with presumably a safe set of protocols, both for our players and for our fans, on what the appropriate way would be to move forward.”
Utah Jazz Concerns
Meanwhile,in Oklahoma City,the Utah Jazz were facing thier own crisis. At 12:24 p.m., Rudy Gobert was listed as questionable with an illness. Preparations were made for his potential isolation.
Around 2 p.m.,Leonard Giles,then the event manager at the Chesapeake Energy Arena,received unusual requests.
Giles: “I put two and two together and figure out we’re playing Utah. Rudy’s probably going to be here; they don’t want him to interview with everyone else. That’s not a normal request, so I knew it had something to do with COVID.”
Gobert was taken to the University of Oklahoma medical Center for testing.
Elliott: “We had to make it a very private thing, of course, and make sure that all the precautions were followed to keep other people safe as well.”
The Jazz communicated with the league and the Thunder about the situation.
Elliott: “dennis was able to have those conversations with his counterpart, Sam Presti. Later in the day, I was able to speak with my counterpart as well, who was Donnie Strack. We just wanted to make sure that everybody who needed to know knew, but also that we were able to maintain privacy for Rudy.”
After the test, Gobert returned to the hotel.
Elliott: “We continued to share with him, ’Hey, you’ve got to remain in your room.You cannot have any visitors.’ Then it was the waiting game. Would it be four hours? Six hours? Eight hours? We weren’t really sure as they hadn’t done many of these tests yet in Oklahoma. We followed the typical game-day routine, where everybody heads over on the bus, minus Rudy and Emmanuel, and tried to prepare for a game.”
Gobert felt ready to play.
Gobert: “They told me they were going to get the results pretty speedy, that I should be able to know before the game. So I took my pregame nap and everything. I was feeling much better. I was ready to play.”
At 4:30 p.m., Silver held a board of governors call with all 30 team owners.
The events of March 11, 2020, culminated in the suspension of the NBA season, marking a turning point in how sports and society would respond to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Night the NBA Stopped: Inside the gobert COVID-19 Revelation
The events of march 11, 2020, marked a pivotal moment, not just for the NBA, but for the world.The revelation that Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert had tested positive for COVID-19 triggered a chain reaction that led to the suspension of the NBA season and served as a stark wake-up call about the severity of the burgeoning pandemic. This is the inside story of that night.
The hours Before Tip-Off
the day began with uncertainty.The Jazz were in Oklahoma City to face the Thunder, but there were concerns about Gobert’s health. As the day progressed, key figures worked to ascertain the situation.
Lindsey was in constant communication with the league and Thunder GM Sam Presti,providing updates. “I am on the phone with the league and [Thunder GM] Sam Presti several different times giving him updates. Basically, it was, ‘Hey, no word yet.'”
At approximately 6:40 p.m., the Jazz announced that Gobert would be out for the game, citing his inability to receive test results in time.
Lindsey expressed his frustration: “The problem was that we couldn’t get the test back in time.So I was like, I can’t accept that, guys. You can’t tell me, given that we’re going to be in front of 18,000 people and the chances to spread this, you can’t tell me we can’t get this test in sooner.”
The Governor’s Call
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt was at the arena,meeting with business officials,when he received a crucial phone call.
Stitt recounted the moment: “I look at it, and I just ignore it. And then I realized it’s my Department of Health director. So I said, ‘Excuse me, guys.’ And I stood up and took the call, and he said, ‘Where are you at, Governor?’ And I was like, ‘well, I’m at the game. We’re about to tip off; the Jazz are in town.’ And he’s like,’Oh,OK,well,one of their players came to town,got sick,we just tested him in our health lab and [the results came] back and he tested positive.'”
Together,Jazz GM Justin Zanik was on his way home in Utah.
Zanik remembered: “I’m three minutes away from my house, and Dennis [Lindsey] calls me.And he’s like, ‘He’s got it.'”
The gravity of the situation hit Stitt immediately: “At that point, a million thoughts are going through my head because at that point, I’m like, ‘well, if he was exposed to the team and then if they’re in there and exposed, the whole stadium is going to get infected, and it’s going to be a huge issue and a lot of people are going to die.'”
At 7:53 p.m., a text message reached Elliott with the test results.
elliott described the rapid sequence of events: “I was sitting with [then-Jazz coach] Quin Snyder,just chatting before he was about to head out to the court,when I received those results. Then I immediately called Dennis Lindsey, who reached out to Sam Presti to share the news. When I was in the process of doing that, I got a call from Dr. DiFiori, who asked for a status update. I informed him of the positive test.”
In New York, NBA executive weiss was with DiFiori when the news broke.
Weiss acted swiftly: “I very quickly got down to the office of Rick Buchanan,our general counsel,and told him what was going on. He called Adam right then.”
Silver recalled receiving the news: “I live on the Upper West Side of manhattan. Our office is in midtown. It’s not that long a drive, but I was in a town car going home from work that night, and I had gotten a call from Rick Buchanan, first, our general counsel. I remember I left the office around 7:30 that evening, and Rick called me, I don’t know, around 15 minutes later, because I was close to my apartment building, and he said, ‘We just got this positive test.'”
He continued, “And literally as I was on the phone with rick — he was giving me some of the details about when the test was taken, who had taken the test, how we had learned it – on my cellphone, I then said to Rick, I got to go, [Thunder owner Clay Bennett] is calling me right now.”
At 7:55 p.m.,Stitt,Bennett,and other Thunder officials convened in a conference room,and Bennett contacted Silver.
Silver described the conversation: “So I picked it up, and [Bennett] said, ‘What are we going to do?’ And I think he said, ‘I’m here.’ And I didn’t know the governor was with him. And I said, ‘Have you talked to the public health officials?’ As at that point, that’s who was conducting tests. And he said, ‘Well, the public health official reports to the governor. The governor’s standing right here with me. And we want to know, essentially, what’s your decision?'”
silver added, ”I am trying to remember whether I said to him right on the spot or I called him back. I think maybe I just talked it through with Clay and I said, based on the discussion, Clay, that we had earlier today, I said, we got to call your game. And he agreed with that, but I think it was pretty clear he wanted me to make that decision.”
Managing the Crowd
The immediate concern shifted to the 18,203 fans in attendance.
silver emphasized the need for calm: “We certainly didn’t want people to panic. Rudy Gobert was, of course, not in the building, but that wasn’t necessarily known to people and whether other players were potentially positive.”
Stitt and bennett discussed how to proceed.
Stitt detailed the deliberations: “So me and him are just going, ‘how should we do it? How do we dismiss in an orderly fashion?’ Because at that point there was hysteria, and I remember that was a big part of our discussion. ‘Do we tell ’em why the game is canceled? how do we disperse?'”
He continued, “I remember one of the guys in the room goes, ’Well, we could pull the fire alarm and then everybody would leave.’ And Clay Bennett goes, ‘That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.’ and so we go, ‘Well, let’s go get [Presti].’ And so me and Clay, we walk down the hall. My 10-year-old is like, ‘Mr. Bennett, am I going to get any signatures on my basketball?'”
Stitt concluded, “And Clay’s like, ‘Remy, I’m going to get you all the signatures you want. You have no idea you’re making history here.'”
“Don’t Let Them Tip the ball”
As players warmed up, a sense of urgency grew within the Thunder organization.
Hennigan recalled Presti’s directive: “And I remember Sam just turning to Donnie [Strack, the team’s VP of human and player performance] and me and saying, ‘Don’t let the game start. Don’t let them tip the ball.'”
Back in Salt Lake City, Dr. Angela Dunn received a critical message.
Dunn described the moment: “And I did.And he said, ‘Rudy tested positive for COVID and that it was all hands on deck.’ So I went right back to the office, about 15 minutes away, and eight of us huddled in a conference room and immediately got Rudy’s phone number and started doing contact tracing.”
The Doctor Runs on the Court
At 8:10 p.m., Donnie Strack sprinted onto the court.
Young noted the unusual sight: “The fact that it was Donnie was what kind of caught everybody off guard because people that knew who he was were like, ‘Hey, that’s the Thunder’s doctor. That’s not somebody that would normally be coming out and talking to a referee.'”
Ingles echoed the sentiment: “I played in the NBA long enough,no one’s
The Night the NBA Stopped: Inside the Oklahoma City Thunder Game That Changed Everything
The events of March 11, 2020, at the Oklahoma City Thunder game, marked a pivotal moment, not just for basketball, but for the world. The unfolding drama, triggered by concerns over a player’s health, led to the abrupt suspension of the NBA season and signaled the beginning of a new reality.
The Calm Before the Storm
Before the gravity of the situation became clear, arena personnel were focused on the usual pre-game routines. One individual recalled the immense pressure of potentially having to make the call to postpone the game,stating:
“But until you get to that point with 20,000 people in the arena and you’re about to go over the radio and tell all of your managers and supervisors to switch to another channel and you give that call – until you’re at that point … your heart is pounding, hands are sweating and you’re doing the best you can to keep it all together.”
Lynnda Parker, then-chief of clinical services at the Oklahoma City-County Health Department, was at home when the situation began to unfold.
Parker: “Within minutes of [Strack] running on the court, I got a call from our director asking if I had nurses that could be ready to go down to the arena and test players.”
Mitchell: “When they came out, I wasn’t thinking like, ‘Oh, Rudy’s sick. This is COVID.’ It was, ‘Something else is going on.’ I was like, ‘All right, there’s a shooter?’ as the way they all ran out, NBA security.But then we were just sitting there and no one’s telling us to evacuate and kind of just talking about the idea, and then[[Chris Paul]was like, ‘What’s wrong with Rudy?’ and that’s when I was like, ‘Oh s—, this is real.'”
Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt: ”It’s as if God wanted to get our attention because you could not have picked a more dramatic way for it to occur.”
Gallinari: “And all of a sudden the three refs walk back to the scorer’s table. We are still on the court waiting for tipoff. Usually if something happens, one ref goes back to the table, but when I saw all three going back, I had a feeling. … But then we waited there and they didn’t tell us anything. Then they just told us, ‘Go back to your locker room.'”
At 8:14 p.m., players from both teams were directed back to their locker rooms. The crowd’s reaction was mixed, with some fans booing amidst the confusion.
gallinari: “We went back to the locker room, and they were not telling us what was going on. They kept telling us, ‘We don’t know if they’re going to cancel the game, so just stay ready.’ So there were people stretching, people dribbling the ball in the locker room. People went back to the weight room to stay loose. Nobody was telling us anything.”
Silver: “Once the teams went back to the locker room, Chris [Paul] started calling me and saying, ‘Adam, we’re being told we can’t leave the locker room.’ It didn’t surprise me, but I think maybe he was the first person to tell me that. And the reason, as I understand it, they weren’t allowed to leave the locker rooms — neither they nor the Jazz — [was] as the head of public health in Oklahoma City was saying, these players cannot leave until we’ve had an opportunity to test them.”
Silver continued,detailing the communication with chris Paul and the concerns of the players:
”I know,because Chris kept calling me every 15 minutes saying,’Adam,we are still not able to leave here. Can you arrange for them to bring more water and maybe some more food into our locker room?'”
He further explained, “So I was sitting in my apartment, going back and forth with Chris, going back and forth with our office. And so he was giving me a blow-by-blow on what was happening on the ground. And I think also because he was head of the players’ association, the Utah Jazz players in their locker room also kept reaching out to Chris saying, ‘Chris, what’s going to happen to us tonight?'”
As the court emptied, an uneasiness settled over the crowd.
Semrau: “It was very confusing.They didn’t know if they should be worried or boo or be disappointed or what was going on. Nobody knew what was going on. The crucial decision was made very quickly, that we need to make an announcement and we need to postpone the game.”
To stall, the Thunder asked their mascot and hype crew, the Storm Chasers, to entertain the crowd. The team also asked Frankie J, a Grammy-nominated artist who was the evening’s halftime entertainment, to go onto the court.
Hennigan, in 2020: “I don’t know, that may have been one of the first pregame halftime shows in NBA history, and he did a heck of a job with it.”
As the delay unfolded, Stitt and Bennett remained in their courtside seats.
Stitt: “I just remember the look on Clay Bennett’s face. That’s his team. he owns the team and I just remember his wife just trying to comfort her husband, and she knew and we knew that the announcement was going to happen. Everybody’s still thinking the game’s going on, the fans are in there and they’re eating popcorn and ready to root on their home team, and we just knew it was all going to come crashing to an end. Then I’m wondering, ‘Are they going to panic?'”
Holt: “You have to put yourself in the mindset of March 11,2020. People thought of COVID-19 like the Black Plague. So if you were told that you were in a hotel and somebody else in that hotel, even though they’re in their room, has COVID-19, at that moment in time, you didn’t know if you were going to make it ’til morning. And there were similar feelings for the 18,000 people in the arena.”
Semrau: “During that pocket of time, that 8:14 to 8:36 window, that was when I think the discussions were taking place in the back of house area of what to do next, how to do it safely, how to communicate effectively. All of those things were being persistent in that window.”
The priority was clear: safely and efficiently evacuate the 18,000 attendees. Semrau added:
“Trying to safely,orderly and effectively mobilize 18,000 people to leave an event they just arrived at was a concern,but the objective. And so the script was quickly created and delivered at 8:37 to Mario Nanni, the Thunder public address announcer, to make the announcement:”
At 8:37 p.m., the announcement was made:
Fans, due to unforeseen circumstances, the game tonight has been postponed. You are all safe. And take your time in leaving the arena tonight and do so in an orderly fashion. Thank you for coming out tonight. We are all safe.
The events of one evening dramatically altered the sports landscape and signaled the severity of the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic.Here’s a look at how it unfolded.
The Initial Response
As concerns about the spread of COVID-19 grew, healthcare professionals began preparing to address the potential impact on sports. One nurse, Parker, recalled, ”I called some of my nurses, I think I got five or six. We were supposed to go in through the back loading dock. All we knew was that we were being called to test some of the players.”
The lack of resources was evident. “At that time, we didn’t have the testing supplies; the state did. So first, I picked up one of my nurses. I went over to our office and picked up whatever [personal protective equipment] we had: N-95 masks, some gloves, hand sanitizer, all the things I could find. We were supposed to go through the loading dock and that someone would meet us there.”
Angela Dunn and her colleagues started reviewing footage of Rudy Gobert’s recent interactions. “We didn’t even know how COVID really spread or how serious it was to individuals,especially kids. And so I started off by calling Rudy and trying to understand everyone he had come into contact with and what his timeline was.” The call with Gobert lasted 45 minutes.
Key Moments as the Night Unfolded
- 9:00 p.m. ET: The Jazz receive notice that Oklahoma medical officials will mobilize nurses and testing kits to the arena to test all 58 members of the team’s traveling party.
- 9:01 p.m. ET: President Donald Trump addresses the nation about the threat of COVID-19 and announces travel restrictions for 26 European nations.
- 9:14 p.m.ET: Tom Hanks posts on Twitter that he and his wife, Rita Wilson, have tested positive for the coronavirus while in Australia.
- 9:15 p.m. ET: Dr. Lisa Callahan, the Knicks’ team doctor, is in a florida restaurant celebrating her husband’s birthday.
Dr. Lisa Callahan remembers,”My phone just starts blowing up and I have all these messages about what’s happening in Oklahoma.”
Callahan contacted Knicks owner Jim Dolan and Knicks president Leon Rose, advising them, “The team was supposed to travel. And we were just like, ‘No, look, just sit tight, stay in Atlanta. We don’t know what’s going to happen next, but you definitely don’t have a game tomorrow to travel to. So stay in Atlanta. We’ll get a flight back to New York tomorrow.'”
Simultaneously occurring, Gobert remained at the 21c Museum Hotel, and players for the Thunder and Jazz stayed in their locker rooms.
Chris Paul, in his 2021 documentary, “The Day Sports Stood Still,” said, “Immediately, what do you start doing? You start thinking about the fact that, ‘OK, he’s on that team, right? So does that mean everybody else on that team has it?’ You start thinking about the interactions that you had with their team.”
The News Breaks
9:27 p.m.ET: Shams Charania tweets that gobert had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Mike Conley recalled the reaction: “Then we found out he had it. It was like, this is crazy … that means it’s been here around us for a while.So now we’re all checking ourselves and like, ‘Oh my God, am I sick? Yeah, do I have shortness of breath?’ You just start to panic a little bit.”
Gobert shared his experience: “so [my agent, Bouna Ndiaye] calls me right after I tested positive. It’s all over Twitter, so a lot of people check on me, see if I’m doing OK. It’s pretty scary. And then my mom was still asleep. She was in France, but she was supposed to fly on Friday. So just as soon as she woke up, I really wanted to talk to her first before she got super scared, letting her know that I was OK. At that time, I didn’t know and I didn’t want to put her in danger or anything, so I canceled her flight and then it was the last day that we could fly internationally for a while.”
The NBA Suspends the Season
9:32 p.m. ET: The NBA announces that a player on the Utah Jazz has preliminarily tested positive for COVID-19. The league suspends game play following the conclusion of the night’s schedule.
Dr. Anthony Fauci reflected on the moment in 2020: “It’s, ‘Oh my god.’ The NBA is such an ingrained part of American culture that it almost is sacrosanct. To be able to suspend that means something really, really serious is going on.”
Adam Silver admitted, “I was very aware, given that we had such limited information, that it wasn’t clear whether we were, in fact, even making the right decision.”
michele Roberts stated, “The amount of money at stake was substantial. The money was ridiculous in terms of what we were going to lose. But again,OK,you can’t spend money if you’re dead.”
The Final Games
The league’s announcement didn’t immediately halt all games. The Knicks and Hawks, Hornets and Heat, and Nuggets and Mavericks continued playing. The new Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings were scheduled to play later that evening.
silver explained the initial decision: “The initial decision was, let’s let those games play out.”
Soon after the NBA’s announcement, Silver received a call from Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé. Silver recalled, “He called me and said, ‘What are you going to do about our game?’ I remember I said, ‘Let me get back to you.'”
In Dallas, the Mavericks and Nuggets began the second half. Mark Cuban remembered,”Before our game,[I remember] going into the locker room and talking to players and them asking me what was going on. And I remember Luka [Doncic] specifically asking me if I thought the season was going to be canceled, because I think they had canceled some games in Europe already.and I told him, ‘No, I don’t think so, but there’s probably, I would bet, a 50-50 chance that something happens.’ And everybody’s like, ’OK, well let’s go play this game.'”
Monte Morris, then-Nuggets guard, said, “At halftime we found out the league was going to shut down and then we just finished the game. But it was kind of weird. It was like we weren’t playing for anything.”
When the NBA made its announcement, a mavericks PR staffer showed Cuban the news on his phone. The moment went viral.
Cuban reflected, “Obviously, I was…”
The Night the NBA Stopped: Inside the COVID-19 Shutdown
the events of March 11, 2020, unfolded with a surreal quality, forever changing the landscape of professional sports. What began as a typical game day quickly spiraled into a league-wide shutdown, triggered by the emerging threat of COVID-19. The details of that night reveal a mix of confusion, fear, and ultimately, a profound sense of uncertainty.
The Utah Jazz and the Unseen Threat
The unease began subtly. As one individual noted, it wasn’t until “toward the middle of the night that Gobert was never even there.We all kind of thought that he had come to the arena.” This absence would soon take on a much greater meaning.
At 10:30 p.m., members of the state health department arrive at the arena.
mitchell: “I’m freaking out. I’m like, ’All right, what the hell’s going on?’ Then they tell us that we’re getting tested.”
Parker: “My nurses, we had not ever done COVID testing before. So we were gathered around a phone watching a training tutorial so that when supplies came, we’d be ready. They had sent the Oklahoma City Thunder team home, so they weren’t there.”
Oklahoma City health officials believe that because Thunder players weren’t directly exposed to Gobert, they aren’t at a notable risk.
Gallinari: “They told us, ‘OK, we’ve got to measure your temperature. If you have a regular temperature, then you can leave. If your temperature is too high, you’ve got to stay.’ Nobody had a high temperature, so we just went home.”
Parker: “It was just the Utah Jazz that were being tested.We went into the locker room and tested players, and some of these men were quite loud about the long nasal swabs.”
Mitchell: “That was the first test, but [the nasal swab] is f—ing up here [pointing to the middle of his forehead]. Remember the test that went all the way up to the head?”
A Final Shot for Vince Carter
As the situation unfolded in Oklahoma City, in Atlanta, Vince Carter experienced what would become a poignant moment in his storied career.
At 10:32 p.m., the Hawks and knicks finish their overtime game in Atlanta, a 136-131 Knicks win. News of the league’s announcement had spread before the game ended, and the crowd chants, “We Want Vince!” Carter is sitting on the bench.
Carter, on ESPN’s “Hoop Collective” podcast: “[Hawks center] Dewayne Dedmon sat next to me and he said, ‘Vince, do you realize this might be your last game? This could possibly be your last game.’ I said, ‘Yeah, that’s crazy.’ And as I sat there for like two minutes, I was like, ‘Damn, this might be my last game.’ So now, we’re standing up. They’re chanting again, they’re pushing it. At like a minute and a half [remaining], LP [coach Lloyd Pierce] looks over, and I was like, ‘All right, cool, I’ll go in.'”
With that, 43-year-old Vince Carter, in his 22nd season, checks in with 19.5 seconds remaining in overtime.
Carter: “I go in and everybody’s cheering. It was a cool moment. As I got to the table, I was like, ‘Damn, this might be my last game for real.’ So when I got in the game, I’ll never forget, the first thing Trae Young said was, ‘I’m going to throw you a lob.’ I said, ‘hell no, you’re not throwing me a lob! Do you know how long I’ve been sitting on that bench over there? Hell no! Are you crazy? I’m 43 over here. I need time to warm up.'”
The Knicks back off him as he launches an uncontested 26-foot 3-pointer with 13.4 seconds left.
Carter: “If you watch it, people are kind of backing off. so that is more pressure. It’s like that open shot that you get sometimes where you’ve got to take the dribble. In my mind,I’m like,’Shoot this like it’s the second quarter.’ Don’t think of the fact that you’ve been sitting there forever and this could be your last shot. So I kind of stepped into it, shot it as if I was on fire and it went in.”
He added, “that’s why I did this [pressed palms together and looked up] and said, ’Thank you, thank you!’ … That’s why I was at peace with my career ending that way, more so than everyone else, which I’m very appreciative of. Because I can’t imagine how miserable I’d have been the following year – my career over, ending on a miss that they let me shoot. But I made it, and I was kind of at peace at that point.”
The Pelicans,Kings,and a Refusal to Play
In sacramento,the Pelicans and Kings were on the brink of tipoff when uncertainty took over.
at 10:38 p.m., Andrew Lopez, the ESPN reporter covering the Pelicans-Kings game, tweets that players from both the Pelicans and Kings have expressed concerns to the league office about playing the game and are heading back to the bus.
J.J. Redick, then-Pelicans guard, to ESPN in 2020: ”Everybody was just like, ‘Nah, we’re not playing. It’s not going to happen tonight.'”
Lopez: “Some of the Pelicans players were a little iffy about [playing]. So they raised the question in the locker room. I remember hearing some whispers like, ‘Man, they’re not going to play.’ I remember standing in the tunnel waiting and there was 15-16 minutes on the clock before tipoff, and the Kings came out. Now I’m standing in the tunnel by the Pelicans’ locker room, and I remember somebody — [Pelicans president of basketball operations David] Griffin — coming out of the locker room and just giving us [a look], and that’s when I was like, ‘Oh, we’re not playing.’ And then everything got weird after that.”
With minutes before tipoff, the NBA announces the game is canceled “out of an abundance of caution because one of the referees assigned to work in the game also worked a Utah Jazz game earlier this week.”
Redick, in 2020: “Leaving the arena was just the weirdest thing. I’ve got security on one side of me and another player on the other side and there’s fans trying to come over and talk to us. We’re like, ‘Don’t touch us. Don’t come near us.’ It was the first time in this whole thing where you realize, like, ‘We’re going to be separated from people for a while.'”
he continued, “When we get to the hotel, we order a bunch of wine. We’re all sort of trying to decompress and come down. We’re all scared. We’re all on edge, to be honest with you. And at that point for those 2 hours, it was a lot of phone calls. It was a lot of texting; my wife texting me. She’s like, ’I’m really scared. I’m really scared. I need you to get home. I need you to get home.'”
“We were supposed to go to Utah next,and once we realized we weren’t going to play,then it became,’Can we leave now
The Day the NBA Shut Down: A Chronicle of Panic and Uncertainty
the events of March 11,2020,marked a turning point,not just for the NBA,but for the entire world. The initial hope was simple: to get the team home safely. However, unease among the flight crew regarding flying with the Utah jazz quickly dashed those hopes.
Stranded and Scared: The Initial Aftermath
The immediate challenge became logistical: how to transport the team back to Utah. “Nobody would fly them,” one official recalled. Despite a contract with Delta, “pilots didn’t want to fly an entire exposed team from Oklahoma to Utah.”
The focus shifted to ensuring the safety of the flight personnel. The advice was “full PPE. So that means you’re wearing a mask, you’re wearing goggles, you’re wearing gloves.” the official added, “My role there really was, how could I help the pilots and the flight attendants feel agreeable being on a plane with exposed individuals.”
Meanwhile, at the 21c hotel, where Rudy Gobert and Emmanuel Mudiay were isolated, panic began to set in. “Over at the 21c, you had guests panicking. The lobby was starting to fill up with guests,” noted one individual. The situation escalated to the point where “we sent the police over to sort of bring some calm to the situation.”
Uncertainty and the Search for Accommodation
The level of uncertainty was palpable. “At one point, I remember Sam [Presti] was arranging to put cots on the arena floor because we weren’t sure where these guys could go,” a league official stated. “In that moment, nobody really had any sense of how hazardous this virus was, how contagious these players might be, how much at risk they were if they did get coronavirus. So we were all sort of operating in the dark.”
Finding a place for the team to stay proved difficult. “That night, I started getting calls about the jazz from multiple places,” one person remembered. Eventually, they were enlisted as a “travel agent,” calling the head of the Convention & Visitors Bureau late at night to find a hotel.
Many hotels were hesitant. “There were obviously a lot of hotels that didn’t want to take a team that potentially had positive players. People were scared, understandably.”
Eventually, 47 rooms were secured at a La Quinta and a Residence Inn near the Oklahoma City airport. One individual received a call from Sen. Romney,who “thanked me personally for helping get the Jazz a hotel that night and for taking care of them.”
By 2:14 a.m., the Jazz departed the arena for the hotels. At the Residence Inn, players tried to cope with the shock. ”And then we were at a Residence inn and just kept drinking beers and eating ice cream, and that was it,” one player recalled.
“there was a lot of conversation. There was a lot of McDonald’s. There may have been some beverages in the lobby, and there were just a bunch of people that were shocked at what had happened and weren’t sure what was going to happen moving forward,” another person added. Sleep was elusive that night: ”I don’t think we really slept that night.”
Communication and the Morning After
At 2:45 a.m. ET, NBA players received a memo regarding “Coronavirus — player health,” emphasizing the importance of communication. “One of the things we did know is that it was important to communicate with everybody what we knew and what we didn’t know, and quickly.”
The following morning, the Jazz players awaited their test results. “We weren’t meant to share the results, but we had our group text of, ‘As soon as you get the result, let us know.'”
Mitchell’s Positive Result and Fallout
The news that Donovan Mitchell had tested positive was delivered in a hotel room meeting. ”I asked donovan to come in, and as soon as I asked him, he was like, ‘I tested positive?’ I was like, ‘Well, just come in. Let’s have a discussion here.’ And he came in, we shared the news with him.”
Mitchell shared the news with his teammates: “We had a team group chat. we were like, ‘Hey, I’m negative.’ ‘Hey, I’m negative.’ I just wrote back the plus sign.”
The news was understandably upsetting. “He was obviously unhappy, as you can imagine.”
Mitchell’s immediate concern was for his family and friends. “That was when it really was like, ‘F—.’ Because I had just been with my mom. I was just in New York,so half of the school,Greenwich country Day,friends,family [might have been exposed]…Holy s—, I could die.”
Gobert and Mitchell: A Fractured Relationship
The relationship between Rudy Gobert and donovan Mitchell became strained. “As soon as I found out, I reached out to him and texted him, tried to call him. No answer, no response,” Gobert stated.”I had Mike and some of the guys checking on me, and then the next thing I saw was donovan’s post on Instagram.”
Mitchell admitted, “I don’t remember texting him back at all. I didn’t talk to him for a while. He was kind of playful while being sick… So I didn’t appreciate that.”
Mitchell felt Gobert “knew the severity of it.” He added, “I’m like, ‘Bro, this isn’t a f—ing game.’ You know what I mean?”
Homeward Bound: Separate Journeys
The Jazz organized travel arrangements to get everyone home. The players and staff who tested negative flew home on an NBA Delta charter flight on March 12. “On the flight back,it was spread out.Nothing too crazy. Not everybody overthinking. It was just more like, all right, we get to go home, get out of here.”
However, Gobert and Mitchell traveled separately. “We obviously couldn’t put Rudy on the plane, couldn’t put Donovan on the plane. They were going separate places [with Mitchell going back to Connecticut].”
Gobert flew home on a medical plane, while Mitchell flew on a private plane to Connecticut.
The events of those days underscored the uncertainty and fear that gripped the world as the pandemic began to unfold, forever changing the landscape of sports and daily life.
The Day the NBA Stopped: A Look back at March 11,2020
A pivotal moment in sports history when the COVID-19 pandemic brought the NBA season to a halt.
The initial Shock
The events of March 11,2020,unfolded with a speed that left many in disbelief. The sports world, and the NBA in particular, was about to change dramatically.
One individual recalled the surreal experience of being escorted from a hotel: “really felt like it was out of a movie. The guys came in the hazmat suits to get me at the hotel.I was the only person in the hotel. They cleared out the rest of the hotel. Just me, and there were two medical people in hazmat suits. It was protocol.”
The suddenness of the situation left many scrambling for information and understanding. The rapid spread of COVID-19 and its potential impact were still largely unknown.
Rudy Gobert’s Experience
Rudy Gobert’s positive test became a watershed moment. Upon returning home, Gobert found support from unexpected places.
Gobert recounted, “I got home. My private chef at the time, her name is Kris, she’s amazing. She came to my house, she was doing the laundry, she was making food and doing everything. And then my friend Fred, when he found out, he was like, ‘Dude, I’m going to fly to Utah just to support you, be there with you.'”
Though, the aftermath was far from easy. Gobert later reflected, “Obviously it was very scary. And obviously everything that happened after that, it was a very tough experience as a human being. The next month after that was one of the most challenging stretches of my life in every aspect. I mean, the world questioning my intentions and then the fear. After that,I had different symptoms. the fear of what’s going to happen to me in terms of health, reading a lot of different things and wondering pretty much … Why me?”
Team and Family Concerns
Following Gobert’s diagnosis, a meeting was held at the airport hangar to address the Jazz players and staff.the primary concern was the health and safety of their families.
Angela Dunn explained, “I was talking to them about their exposure and what to expect moving forward. What did it mean that they were exposed? What was the timeline, and what symptoms should they be looking out for? They were all concerned about the risks to their families. There were players whose wives were pregnant or they had little kids. There were players who lived with their elderly parents. And so they were really concerned about the risk that they were posing to their families and their loved ones.”
The importance of quarantine was emphasized,especially to the younger players. Dunn added, “My role was to educate them on that and to also make sure they were following rules. I mean, you kind of forget, at least I do, these are young kids generally speaking. And the coach wanted to make sure that I let them know that they should not be going out and partying and they should not be flying to L.A. on their own. And really just making sure that I emphasize the importance of quarantining for themselves and the people around them, but also for their basketball team and their career.”
The team’s veteran players reinforced this message. Dunn noted, “He was the dad of the team.He would back me up when I would say things like,’OK,guys,you really need to take this quarantine seriously. That means you’re going from here in your private car directly to your home for this many days and watching for these symptoms. That means you’re not working out together, you’re not going to the club, you’re not going to L.A.’ And then he would provide much more colorful language to the team.”
Recognizing the gravity of the situation, support extended to the players’ families. “Our team also made a connection with the wives of the players or parents for those of them who still had their parents in their house. And we actually had daily connections with their families as well because they were extremely worried and wanted to know what to look out for in their own homes. So I took care of the players, and then one of my colleagues took care of the players’ families. This was also when you had to test more regularly, so we also had to assign a local health department nurse to go to rudy’s house to test him regularly as well.”
league-Wide Impact and Reactions
The NBA’s decision to suspend the season had a ripple effect across the sports world. On March 12, the NHL and MLS followed suit, MLB canceled spring training, and the NCAA canceled its basketball tournaments.
One individual recalled a conversation with another mayor, ”I had a conference call with other mayors that morning and had heard from the mayor of seattle, which was an early place that was hit. So that was on my mind. I mean, it sounded horrible. There were horror stories coming out of places like that, but still not enough to really think about taking the kinds of actions that were about to happen literally that night. And that’s why I think that night was so shocking. Most of us were just not in that headspace yet.”
The rapid unfolding of events required quick thinking and level-headedness. One person reflected, “The thing that I’m proud of too, as I look back on it, is that I think it would’ve been easy for me to be a little too quick with certain things. And even when I look back at things I tweeted, I feel like I was very level-headed. That stuff is all happening so fast in real time, and you want to get it right and you want to let everybody know what you’re seeing.”
The human element was also evident, with concerns reaching even the highest levels. “It was pretty wild having Donovan Mitchell’s mom call me because,of course,she was super worried about her son. And so talking to her, mother to mother, was just such a powerful moment. You have this superstar who still has a mom that worries about him and cares about him as much as I care about my 8-year-old son and would do the same for him. It continues to be one of those moments you’ll never forget.”
The Wait and the Return
The days following the shutdown were filled with uncertainty. One player, upon returning home, waited anxiously for test results.
After four long days, the results came: negative. The relief was palpable, marked by a long embrace with his son.
Four months later, the NBA resumed its season in a bubble habitat at Walt Disney World Resort. This unprecedented move allowed the season to conclude safely.
Healing and Moving Forward
The events of March 11, 2020, forced players to confront underlying issues and build stronger relationships.
Donovan Mitchell explained, “I think that helped our on-court relationship, ironically enough, because it was like, ‘All right, everything else is out the window. We can just hoop now.’ I don’t gotta worry about undertone s— here and here. He doesn’t worry about undertone s— here. There’s none of that s—. All that s— is done. When we came to the bubble, that’s when we started playing. He didn’t feel like he had to pretend. I didn’t have to pretend. It was just like, cool. We’re not saying we’re the best of friends. I don’t hate you. We’re not the best of friends, but we certainly know what we can be on the floor. And I think that was what we saw.”
The blame unfairly placed on Rudy Gobert was also addressed. “There’s a time that Rudy, in particular, was getting blamed, and it was very misplaced. You would not believe the calls that I actually got personally. And then literally we had to post guards in front of his house as of the nonsense that somehow he became Patient 1 that brought it over. So in some ways there’s been a trail that has unfairly followed for someone that I care about deeply.”
Mitchell added, “I honestly think we both had friction before that. I mean, I don’t think that — we know that. There was friction before that. I tell people this all the time. I think after the COVID thing, we played our best basketball. I think it eliminated the friction. It was put on the table.It forced us to have a conversation. It forced us to sit down and talk as men. This is when I really learned about being a grown-up, being [about] business, being co-workers versus friends.”
A Legacy of Prioritizing Health
The NBA’s response to the pandemic set a precedent for prioritizing health and safety.
“I think part of the NBA’s legacy should be that it put the health of its players and its fans ahead of its financial interests and said, ‘We’re not going to compromise on this.’ It’s important. I don’t know that any other league would’ve done that.We’ll never know.”
“From my experience, the NBA was much more proactive than the rest of society in terms of getting ready for this.”
“In some ways I was less proud, in a way, of the fact that we were the canary in the mine, so to speak, on shutting things down than the fact that we found a way to operate in that summer in our so-called bubble and found a way, pre-vaccines in a COVID environment, to resume our business. That, to me, was something because there, through planning and enormous cooperation of 30 teams and government officials in Florida and you name it, we figured out a way to operate when people badly wanted television programming and entertainment and most of the country was still shut down.”
Reflections
Looking back,the events of March 11,2020,feel both recent and distant.
“it doesn’t feel like five years ago.”
“It feels like a hundred years ago.”
The Night the NBA stopped: Inside the Gobert COVID-19 Revelation
March 11, 2020, is a date etched in the memory of sports fans worldwide.It was the night the NBA suspended its season after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. This article explores the events leading up to that pivotal moment and its broader impact.