By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Nikola Jokic did not travel to Orlando with his Denver Nuggets teammates, per Mike Singer of the Denver Post. He must produce two negative coronavirus tests in Serbia to return to the USA and a couple more in the USA before he could make his way to Orlando, according to the health and safety protocols implemented by the NBA.
Jokic, 25, contracted the coronavirus in Serbia and seems to be cleared to travel to Denver but the timing of the necessary tests prevented him from returning in time. The Nuggets actually flew to Orlando, site of tournament planned to conclude the 2019-20 season, on Tuesday without confirming who was on the team flight.
The Joker can join his teammates at Orlando but Taurean Prince is unlikely to be part of the Brooklyn Nets squad after testing positive for the coronavirus, reports ESPN. Spencer Dinwiddie previously revealed he will not rejoin the Nets after testing positive for the second time. DeAndre Jordan is also out due to contracting coronavirus and Wilson Chandler opted to sit out for family reasons, while Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Nicolas Claxton are sidelined with injuries.
As the 22 teams included in the season-ending tournament are arriving at Orlando, NBA commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged that action can be halted for a second time if the coronavirus penetrates the bubble. “Certainly if we had any sort of significant spread within our campus, we would be shut down again,” he said on Tuesday, relays ESPN.
“We won’t be surprised when they first come down to Orlando if we have some additional players test positive,” he added referring to the players in the Orlando bubble, “What would be most concerning is once players enter this campus and then go through our quarantine period, then if they were to test positive or if we were to have any positive tests, we would know we would have an issue. We would know that there’s in essence a hole in our bubble or that our quarantine or our campus is not working in some way.”
The 2019-20 season paused since March 11 is set to resume on July 30. The 22 teams will scrimmage and play eight additional regular season matches before the top eight from each conference move on to the playoffs.
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