The Washington Wizards have played without any interruptions in the 2020-21 NBA season due to the coronavirus pandemic. To this point, no player or coach has tested positive, whether for the first (or second time). And no player or players have been forced to quarantine to date.
That luck may soon run out.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, the Philadelphia 76ers’ entire team had to quarantine last night in New York City after they played the Brooklyn Nets.
The Philadelphia 76ers learned of a positive coronavirus test for a player during tonight’s game in Brooklyn, forcing the entire team to quarantine in New York tonight and contact trace, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 8, 2021
It was also reported that Seth Curry was the player who had the positive test. As Harrison Grimm of SB Nation’s 76ers blog Liberty Ballers reported, Curry was on the team bench during the first quarter of the Brooklyn game. Numerous players, including Joel Embiid were very close to him.
So why am I talking about a Sixers and Nets game? That’s because the Wizards played the Sixers last Wednesday in a 141-136 loss — or one day before the positive test.
Curry played 36 minutes, scoring 28 points, but that’s not the point of this article. He would have been in close proximity to numerous Wizards players on the court, including Bradley Beal while both were not wearing face masks and breathing heavily, because they are running and moving quickly. I don’t know whether playing on the court with someone who has the coronavirus qualifies as a “close contact trace.” But it wouldn’t surprise me to see some players have to quarantine because of it.
Why would at least some Wizards have to quarantine? That’s because people with the coronavirus are most contagious in the 48 to 72 hours before experiencing symptoms. It’s unclear whether Curry has symptoms, which range from a loss of taste and smell to a dry cough and/or a fever. But it’s reasonable to assume that he had the coronavirus on Wednesday.
And let’s not point fingers at people who get the virus and spread it. We don’t know where or how Curry got COVID-19. And it’s not like he isn’t wearing a face mask since he obviously wore one while going to the arena. People can and do get the coronavirus while wearing masks. It’s just that the risk of getting COVID-19 is much smaller when one wears a mask. (SO WEAR THOSE MASKS!)
The Wizards play the Boston Celtics tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET. Charania reported that Tristan Thompson, Robert Williams and Grant Williams are out because they were close contacts to someone who tested positive for COVID-19. While the Wizards shouldn’t be affected by the Celtics’ woes with the coronavirus, the Wizards are clearly not out of the woods either due to Curry’s situation.
It’s been remarkable that they were able to avoid it altogether, at least so far.