Player Mavs test positive for COVID-19, 2 additional ones also remain quarantined in Denver

Editor’s note: This story has been updated.

The rising tide of NBA coronavirus concerns hit the Mavericks on Friday when, according to two sources, one player tested positive for COVID-19 and two others had to be quarantined for contact tracking.

All three players, the sources said, remained in Denver while the rest of the players and the team returned to Dallas on the team’s plane.

The Mavericks are scheduled to host Orlando on Saturday night. Even though sources said the two quarantined Mavericks tested negative for coronavirus, NBA protocols stipulate that players remain in quarantine for at least seven days.

Although the Mavericks until Friday afternoon did not reveal the identities of the players who remained in Denver, playmaker Luka Doncic does not appear to be one of them, based on an Instagram video he posted from the team’s plane.

The NBA season began on December 22 and the games remained uninterrupted, despite the increase in COVID-19 cases across the country. In the past few days, however, several teams have had problems related to viruses.

On Monday, Nets star Kevin Durant was reported to have faced a seven-day quarantine period due to exposure to someone who tested positive for the virus.

On Thursday, it was reported that the Philadelphia guard and former Maverick Seth Curry tested positive for COVID-19, and that several teammates will lose matches due to contact tracking.

Also on Thursday, the Mavericks opponent on Thursday night, Denver, learned that Michael Porter Jr., who has already lost four games, will remain in the league’s health and safety protocol indefinitely.

And before the Mavericks’ revelations on Friday, the Boston Celtics found that pivot Robert Williams III tested positive for COVID-19 and that the other players on the attack line Grant Williams and Tristan Thompson will lose time during the quarantine.

Before the Mavericks’ victory in the Thursday night overtime against the Nuggets, coach Rick Carlisle discussed the difficulties of trying to create, in fact, a traveling bubble while following the 134-page health and safety protocols that were distributed to all the 30 teams before the training camps.

When asking Carlisle a question, a reporter described COVID-19 as fickle.

“I think it’s fickle to be kind,” Carlisle said. “It is much worse than just fickle.

“Part of the medical protocols and the 24-hour tests and rapid tests is that if someone is positive, there will be a period of just over 24 hours in which there will be an incubation period. And in those first 24 hours it is believed that whoever contracts is not contagious.

“The system allows a positive test to be removed from the group for quarantine so that another test is positive. For everything to work, you need to follow the details of the daily protocols. “

Carlisle said the Mavericks have the best NBA medical / training team, led by player health and performance director Casey Smith, chief sports trainer Dionne Calhoun and assistant sports trainer Heather Mau.

“We just have to stand firm and understand that there are no guarantees,” said Carlisle. “When you try to create a traveling bubble, which we are doing as a league, there are certainly more variables. But the hope is that if someone does a positive test, he can be removed from the group and you can move on from there. “

On Friday, this happened with one Maverick and resulted in two others being quarantined. Now the Mavericks and other NBA teams will prepare for what comes next.

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